After the last climax

[StrangeLife]

A while back I read a story that began with the husband of the protagonist getting killed in an accident and subsequently chronicled his prim vanilla wife's gradual discovery of how he had lived a double life of wild sexual escapades.

That story made me think about something uncomfortable but also important. We never know when or how we'll be leaving this life (my personal preference is getting f***** to death by Anne Hathaway wearing her Cat-Woman costume) so it's important to have a few things prepared. Like a will and insurance.

But what about your data?

Is there anything on your computer or NAS that you'd rather not have people remember you for?

Would you be comfortable knowing that your kids might browse everything you have on your laptop?


My own solution was activating encryption on my NAS and creating a TrueCrypt container on my PC for racy stuff on the go. Now I can type away on the darkest and most perverted stories safe in the knowledge that nobody will ever know unless I want them to.

 

[Blase]

I don't think the discovery of what's on my computer would result in anything more tragic than my heirs saying, "If only we had known, perhaps we could have helped him somehow!"

 

[Darkniciad]

My sister knows that I write and what I write, and I trust her to take the appropriate steps.

No worries here

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I see a plot bunny in it.

I suspect the NSA already loaded your puter with enough filth to justify confiscating your coffin. Deputy Fife aint never gonna believe your wife's pleas that those baby pix of Miley Cyrus in her plastic pants aren't depraved filth.

 

[StrangeLife]

I don't believe that anybody lives a life so pious and transparent that having it all laid out wont change the worlds perception of you.

And it's not just for the sake of your own reputation that secrecy might be prudent - it's out of consideration for the family as well. A friend of mine lost his grandpa a few years back. While cleaning out the old house his sister and he discovered a box with photographs of grandpa wearing womens lingerie in sexually explicit poses. While it didn't exactly scar them for life, it's certainly a vision they would have been happy to be without.

Sure the NSA knows it all but they ain't telling...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I don't believe that anybody lives a life so pious and transparent that having it all laid out wont change the worlds perception of you.

And it's not just for the sake of your own reputation that secrecy might be prudent - it's out of consideration for the family as well. A friend of mine lost his grandpa a few years back. While cleaning out the old house his sister and he discovered a box with photographs of grandpa wearing womens lingerie in sexually explicit poses. While it didn't exactly scar them for life, it's certainly a vision they would have been happy to be without.

Sure the NSA knows it all but they ain't telling...

You discover all kinds of shit.

My mom died knowing she was a bastard love child, except she wasn't. I found the marriage license, spoke to the Matron of Honor, and looked at the Census records. Her parents were married from 1929 thru 1935. Then Granny got pregnant with another contestants child. Oh my. My aunt was not happy with the news, for she relished my mom's former status.

I got some payback from a snooty boy I went to school with. He liked to rub our noses in his grandpa's lofty social status. Then I discovered that his distinguished grandfather was a minor player in my ancestors infantry brigade; the one was a private, the other a general. But God wasn't done with the humiliation. I found the adoption record for Mister Snooty's mom. A luv child.

 

[StrangeLife]

You discover all kinds of shit...

Exactly. And that was last century when paper records were all you had to worry about.

Today we have e-mail, social networks, digital photos, electronics documents and tons of other stuff, all centred on our gadgets. If you get full control of a persons PC and phone you basically have full access to that persons life. Without wanting to appear too paranoid I think it's something worth being aware of, even if you don't feel you're doing something worth hiding.

 

[Handley_Page]

My computer is so old, I doubt any of my successors would be interested in looking at its contents. But it is worth bearing in mind. . .

 

[lovecraft68]

I've said this about many things and I'll add this to the list.

When I am dead I won't be worried about anything.

I could give two shits who finds what on my computer.

I'm the type that no matter what twisted bit of a story someone found or if they got into my BDSM "photo album" or browsed my bookmarked porn videos, there will be no one who will say anything other than, "yeah, he seemed the type"

 

[StrangeLife]

When I am dead I won't be worried about anything.

I could give two shits who finds what on my computer.

I'm the type that no matter what twisted bit of a story someone found or if they got into my BDSM "photo album" or browsed my bookmarked porn videos, there will be no one who will say anything other than, "yeah, he seemed the type"

But if they don't get into your album, they won't remember you as "that type." So by taking control of your data you could improve your legacy dramatically.

Another issue is your kids, if you have any. Chances are that they'll get your computer - if there are teenagers in the family they're usually the ones getting the electronics...