it's your legacy... Entrustet HIWI Blog

It’s amazing how much many of us rely on information stored in the cloud these days.  Last week, C.C. Chapman and Chris Brogan both were locked out of their Google accounts without any sort of explanation.  Writes Chapman “[I] was told by Google that my account had been temporarily disabled due to a ‘perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service.’”  Brogan had the same experience and writes “I woke up this morning in Montreal to find that my access to my Google accounts has been temporarily disabled due to a “perceived violation of either the Google Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service.”

Like many people (including me), both Brogan and Chapman rely on Google for huge portions of their digital life.  Writes Brogan:

So, here’s the list of things I can’t do without my Google Account:

• Use my phone properly – it’s an Android phone.
• Access my primary calendar.
• Access my Google Wave (for collaboration projects).
• Access all my RSS subscriptions (Google Reader).

Chapman was in a similar jam. On his blog, he writes:

gMail is my primary e-mail account. I’ve been using it since the days when you had to nearly give a blood sample to get an account.

Calendar keeps me and my family in sync and allows me to keep everything organized from meetings to lacrosse games.

Reader is what keeps me tapped into what is going on in the world and what my friends are writing.

Buzz filters up the best stuff on the web and allows me an outlet to share with others.

Wave allows me to work on projects with people around the world and in the past few weeks has become a critical part of my life.

Since Brogan was out of the country, he was unable to use any of the password reset or SMS functions to regain access to his account.  Chapman was in the US, but was not able to get the SMS password reset to work.  He tried unsuccessfully for three days to get into contact with someone at Google to help him out of his jam.  He tried every potential way to get in contact with a real person at Google, but couldn’t do it.  Writes Chapman:

I have tried all of the following

• Using their SMS code verification to reset the account. I got the code, but every time I tried to put it in, I was told I had the incorrect code.
• Filling in the support form, waiting 24 hours for a response and then sending another one when I heard nothing.
• Calling 650-253-0000 and pressing 5 for Tech Support (they told me to go to the web)

I’ve gone through all the official channels and I’m out of options.

Eventually, both Brogan and Chapman were able to reset their passwords and regain access to their Google accounts by using Google SMS verification and password reset, but it took days of hard work and frustration.

Now imagine if a Google power user passes away and his family does not have access to his Google account.  Survivors have the same problems that Brogan and Chapman had over the past week, but it will be even harder to fix.  You can see how hard it was for living Google power users who knew their own passwords to get into their own locked accounts, imagine being a survivor or executor trying to gain access to a deceased person’s Gmail, Google Docs or Google Wave.

Many large companies, especially Google are notorious for their horrendous customer service.  Writes Chapman, “the fact that an account (and I wasn’t the only one so I know something must have happened) can be completely turned off and no matter what I try to do, I can’t get a hold of a human to get it fixed is wrong. I tried the SMS verification and the codes were denied ever time. I filled out the proper support form. After 24 hours with no response I filled out another one. I’ve been polite and patient because I do know that they are a huge company and I’m just one random guy with a problem. But, I also know that to fix this is just a click of a few buttons and a password reset.”

If you want to access a deceased person’s Gmail account, you can go through Google’s help pages and mail in 5 physical documents to Google’s office in California, but that will not allow you to gain access to Google Docs, Wave or any service other than Gmail.  And you won’t be able to call anyone at Google to get personalized help.  If a Google power users have any important documents, family photos stored on picasa or receive any time sensitive emails for their business after they have passed away, their survivors will be out of luck.

It’s easy to avoid getting your survivors into a mess like this, but it takes forward thinking and planning on a subject that most people don’t want to think about.  It’s important to have some sort of plan in place.  We believe that Entrustet’s Account Guardian is the best way to make sure that your survivors aren’t locked out of your digital life after you pass away.  Account Guardian allows you to create a secure list of all of your online accounts and decide if you’d like them transferred or deleted when you pass away.  You can also include your usernames and passwords so that your survivors will be able to easily carry out your last wishes.

If you don’t create some sort of plan, your survivors won’t know what you wanted to happen to your emails, blogs, documents and other online accounts.  If they decide they want to gain access, they will be left to face off against Google and their notoriously bad customer service, just like Brogan and Chapman had to this week.

So here’s my question.  What are you doing to make sure that your survivors know what you want done with your digital assets after you’ve passed away and how are you making sure they will be able to gain access to your accounts to carry out your wishes?

Tags:

cc chapman · chris brogan · delete gmail · Digital Estate Planning · google · transfer gmail