The final shutdown

[ukhudshanskiy]

Online death is common. A monster kills you during a game, you stop updating your Facebook page… But what if you die in real life? How will your internet friends know you have logged out of the world altogether?– Those who spend ages playing games such as World of Warcraft or contributing to an internet community worry about this. One man from Ohio gave his son a USB key with details of all those he had to notify in the event of his death, including online groups.– Websites have sprung up providing a similar service. One site, www.deathswitch.com, will automatically send e-mails to all your contacts if you don’t check in during a specified period.– If that sounds macabre, there’s www.slightlymorbid.com. This also sends e-mails when a member dies, but only when a trusted friend uses a password to start the process. Either way, it’s nice to know all your contacts will be informed should you shut down permanently.