On Thu, Jan 21, 2016 at 11:28 AM, PeterK <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Morning Mix <http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/>
> Her dying husband left her the house and the car, but he forgot the Apple
> password
>
> ... when it suddenly stopped
> working and she was unable to reload the device without providing a
> password for their Apple ID account.
>
> Bush’s husband never told her the password, and she hadn’t thought to ask.
> Unlike so many of the things David had left for Bush in his will — car
> ownership, the title of the house, basically everything he owned — this
>

So, reading this, I wasn't really surprised or bothered by it... until I
got to the "you need to provide a court order" part.

But the key thing in the whole situation is this comment:

"Bush’s husband never told her the password, and she hadn’t thought to ask."

And I'm NOT suggesting that when someone is on their deathbed, survivors
should be sitting there with a pad and pencil asking for the passwords to
all of their on-line assets... but just the same, users who HAVE THINGS
others MAY NEED TO ACCESS after they pass on should find a way to
memorialize this information.  Whether it's to ensure other can access it,
OR DELETE IT, you need to make provisions.

In this case, someone knew he was ill and may not survive... but even if
you die in an accident and there's no opportunity to "share" this
information, you can make provisions.

There generally isn't a reason for family members to NOT have access to
something like your AppleID, so writing passwords like this and other
innocuous things down in a notebook that anyone can find shouldn't be an
issue.   HOWEVER, you MAY have information stored that you don't
necessarily want certain family members to have access to, so having a
second option might make sense.

One option might be to setup a secure online account that you grant access
to people directly to and storing a document there that includes a list of
passwords and other sensitive information, like locations of secreted away
cash, etc. One such source for this is https://www.chronicleoflife.com/
which allows you to store photos and documents in perpetuity,  It's not
cheap, but the pricing is reasonable.  And you can choose who has access to
what, and provide them information to access it.

Another less high tech option is to provide a list of passwords to a
trusted friend, and indicate to them who should get what, on your death.
You may have people outside your immediate family you want notified or
things you want these individuals to have access to that your family is
unaware of. (C'mon... you all KNOW what I'm talking about here)

A similar but a bit less 'protected' method would be to place envelopes in
a safe deposit box that family members have access to, with instructions
for certain individuals to "open upon my incapacitation or death".

Whichever of these method/s you might choose, it's incumbent upon you to
ensure these remain current, because MOST OF US periodically change
passwords on accounts to help keep them secure.  Sadly, some of us don't
know the difference.. STILL
https://www.skyhighnetworks.com/cloud-security-blog/you-wont-believe-the-20-most-popular-cloud-service-passwords/


Larry

-- 
Larry
[log in to unmask]



*----Lawrence J. MedinaDanville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]