Send Emails After Your Death

Roland Piquepaille writes "As you all know, the two things in life you can't avoid are taxes and death. But if you will no longer have to pay taxes after your death, you will be able to send email thanks to a new service, Mylastemail.com. The Los Angeles Times (free registration needed) says this service will cost you $9.99 for a three-year subscription. The company says you can update your farewell messages from anywhere in the world, including cybercafes or airports." If it's not a hoax, it's a pretty cool service.

spam

[spoonyfork]

I have no doubt that I will be sending and receiving spam messages long after my own demise.

This is retarded

[Lxy]

the concept is cool, but there's one thing that doesn't make any sense.. HOW DO THEY KNOW IF YOU'VE DIED????

According to the FAQ on the site, you need to leave some kind of documentation in a place where someone will find it after you've died. That person is then responsible to contact them and have the e-mails sent. Dumb question: If you have to leave a note behind anyway, why use the e-mail service? Why not write letters in envelopes and store them in the same safe place you'll store this document?

Sounds more like a ploy to take money from the naive. Too bad I didn't think of this.

Re:No thanks

[piranha(jpl)]

Really. The FAQ says that messages sent to recipients only contain a URL to your full message. Unless they actually include the name of the deceased in the Subject or something else which clearly differentiates it from spam, many people will probably disregard the message.

This is just a bad idea...

[ezraekman]

Yeah, read about it already on the Register [theregister.co.uk]. Why would someone want to do this?

"Mylastemail.com , in its sole discretion, upon five (5) days' written notice and without liability to you, may terminate your password, account or use of the Service and remove and discard any Messages within the Service if you fail to comply with this Agreement... ... Upon termination mylastemail.com shall have no obligation to maintain or delete any Messages stored in your account or to forward any Messages to you or any third party. "

"Indemnification

You shall indemnify and hold mylastemail.com and its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, attorneys, and agents, harmless from and against any and all claims, costs, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys' fees and costs) arising out of your Message or in connection with your use of the Service and Content, or breach of this Agreement.

Disclaimer of Warranties

MYLASTEMAIL.COM MAKES NO REPRESENTATION, WARRANTY, OR GUARANTY AS TO THE RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, QUALITY, SUITABILITY, TRUTH, AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT. MYLASTEMAIL.COM DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT:

(I) THE USE OF THE SERVICE WILL BE TIMELY, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OR OPERATE IN COMBINATION WITH ANY OTHER HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM OR DATA,
(II) THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS,
(III) THE QUALITY OF ANY PRODUCTS, SERVICES, INFORMATION, OR OTHER MATERIAL PURCHASED OR OBTAINED BY YOU THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS,
(IV) ERRORS OR DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED,
(V) THE SERVICE OR THE SERVER(S) THAT MAKE THE SERVICE AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. THE SERVICE AND ALL CONTENT IS PROVIDED TO YOU STRICTLY ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. ALL CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW BY MYLASTEMAIL."

That last bunch of bru-ha-ha is the icing on the cake. Basically, this all says "Pay us money. In exchange, we promise nothing, guarantee nothing, but give you a warm fuzzy feeling that everything will be okay if you die... but we don't guarantee or even really hint that you might feel A) warm or B) fuzzy. It's all in your mind. Give us money now, please."

It seems pretty pointless to me. It might be different if A) there was any kind of "real" guarantee and B) e-mail was a more reliable, widely used medium. But the fact of the matter is that there are still millions of people who don't yet understand or even use e-mail, and those who do know that it's not always reliable. If you need this kind of service, pay a live, professional person who knows how to use e-mail, phone, fax, snail mail, etc. to inform those who need to know.

Of course, that won't stop the masses who don't understand e-mail and like warm fuzzy feelings from handing over the cash.

Free cash from Microsoft......

[markxsd]

Why not attach a really nasty M$ killing worm to the email...

...Then get a buddy to pick up Bill's "Wanted Dead or Alive" $50k reward!

Cut out the middleman

[fleener]

Let me get this straight. I print a document from the web site, give it to my trustee, and my trustee is responsible for contacting the web site to inform it that I have died? I'll just give my final messages directly to my trustee and cut out the middleman.

Hand written letter?

[gfilion]

I think that your loved ones will appreciate much more a hand written letter to each one of them than a "email from hell".

It's been done for centuries, just hand write a letter to each of your loved one, and put them with your will. They will get distributed after your death.

GFK's

Live longer, pay more

[Andy Smith]

I don't like the fact that they charge you $9.99 for an initial three years, and then if you're still alive you need to keep paying top-ups to keep your account open.

Generally, people don't know that they will die in the next three years. There are exceptions of course but the majority of people, even the elderly, expect to be alive in three years. So the result will be that most people don't sign-up because they're waiting "until nearer the time". What if they get run over? Or they're killed? Well I guess their friends and loved ones won't get that last message because this company decided to charge a subscription fee rather than a one-off payment.

I want to use the phrase "emotional blackmail" but I don't think that's quite accurate. There's certainly something ugly about this service, though.

Why?

[Twoehy]

My roommate in college had dated, and remained good friends with a girl who decided to kill herself. She was still in high school at the time and simply dosed and large number of pills and laid out on a blanket in plain site on the lawn of our local jc. It was, needless to say, traumatic for many of the people involved. It was only compounded though when the time delayed emails from her aol account arrived in several people's inboxes. They were meant as an attempt to soothe the grieving, but the effect was not that. They mostly said things along the line of "it's not your fault, please don't feel bad, I'm happier now" etc. etc. And maybe in the long run it was a good idea, but I am certain the effect of her emails in the short term was different than she expected. Rather than bringing relief it rubbed salt in a wound that was only three days old. Apparently she couldn't delay email more than a week on AOL? maybe they would have been better a month or two later. The whole notion of someone facilitating this effort is a little unnerving though. I know the last thing I want is an email from a dead friend after they're gone.

Pathetic

[t0ny]

But if you will no longer have to pay taxes after your death, you will be able to send email thanks to a new service, Mylastemail.com.

If Tupac can still be making music and movies after he dies, sending e-mails seems weak by comparison.