Who Owns Your Digital Life After Death?

When 27-year-old Park Jihoon's phone remained logged into his group chat for weeks after his unexpected death, his friends didn’t know whether to remove him—or leave him there, frozen in time. “It felt wrong either way,” one friend admitted. “It was like he still existed in the room.”

Welcome to the age of digital legacy, where death no longer means disappearance. From cloud photo albums and emails to YouTube channels and metaverse avatars, our lives online are outlasting our bodies—and raising profound ethical questions.

In South Korea, this topic is gaining urgency. As of 2024, over 92% of adults under 40 use cloud storage and social media daily. Yet only a small fraction have made arrangements for what happens to their accounts, data, and digital creations after death.

A recent legal case made headlines in October when the family of a deceased YouTuber requested access to his monetized content, only to be denied by the platform due to privacy clauses. “This is no longer a personal matter,” says attorney Shin Areum, who specializes in digital estate planning. “It’s about inheritance, identity, and consent.”

Tech companies are slowly adapting. Naver and Kakao now offer “legacy access” settings, where users can pre-designate who will manage their data. Apple and Google introduced similar tools, but usage remains low due to lack of awareness. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT is reviewing guidelines for standardizing posthumous data handling across platforms.

Philosophical concerns also loom large. Should families be allowed to recreate a deceased loved one’s voice using AI? Should avatars in virtual worlds be shut down—or maintained like digital memorials?

Younger generations are starting to think ahead. “I backed up my texts with my mom before she passed,” says 25-year-old Kim Sohee. “Now I read them when I miss her. It’s painful, but also comforting.”

As our lives become increasingly digital, so too must our concept of death. In Korea and beyond, managing our virtual afterlives may become one of the defining legal and emotional challenges of the coming decade.

Date: 2024-11-11

Reporter: 박근홍