My solution here was to name my son w/ the same first/last name (both grandfathers had the same name, one as middle, the other as first, so he got that as a middle name instead of the traditional southern great-grandmother's maiden name as middle name which was inflicted on me of my paternal grandfather whose name I bear).
My main e-mail address matches this (and most user names on various forums --- I even offered my son my @willadams Twitter handle which I don't use), so the current e-mail password is written down in an envelope in a safe and on my demise he can take over that e-mail and notify folks of my passing and more importantly, seamlessly take over those accounts tied to it which he views the digital content of worthwhile (Amazon Kindle w/ over 1,000 books, Amazon Music w/ decades worth of Amazon Rips for purchased CDs, GOG games (which brings us full circle almost).
This is my way of thinking too, but realistically we don't know if today will be our last - one needs to have a dead-man's-handle now. It's like backups, something else I really need to get done!
The lack of consumer awareness around the fact that there is nothing akin to the first sale doctrine for "digital media" (licensing sans physical media) is honestly surprising to me. I guess it's only been a decade or two of exposure for most people, but still.
Even physical media/first sale doesn't really protect all that much anymore, now that license keys tend to be single use and you have to pay to get another one. If you don't know what I'm talking about, try to buy a used CoD game and play it online. You will likely have to pay Activision more than twice what you payed GameStop.
The irony is that all this means "buying" ≠ "owning", yet:
- piracy is widely considered "theft"
- "buying" confers almost no rights. If I pay today, and they shut down the servers tomorrow, that's too bad. Get banned? No due process or refund; should have read the eula. Sony pulls the movie's license from the platform? Here is a $1 credit, you are welcome.
Not sure if this is a boiling frog scenario, a consumer ignorance issue, or if if most people just have bigger concerns than what happens to their movies when a licensing deal ends or they die.
I think most people are okay with just renting stuff, and would never consider reselling something in the first place.
Its a strange concept to me, especially when I see people who haven’t paid their off their house or student loans throwing things away that work fine.
A long time ago a particularly wasteful friend of mine tried to explain it by saying he was like a snake that eats and shits money and just keeps pumping it through without ever letting anything collect. I think this is accurate for quite a few people, even if they’re not articulate enough to explain it.
Alright, then emulation, cracks, and BitTorrent are fine.
A company can steal the stuff I pay for legally, impose nasty DRM on my legal experience, limit my usage of it for arbitrary reasons, and they have the fucking audacity to tell me I can’t transfer shit when I fucking die?
I have copies of books from the 1960s, and you know what’s cool about them? They still work. If I die I can give them away to someone, if I want to read them tomorrow that’s something I can just do.
Did all the book companies just up and die because parents were able to leave books to their kids? That seems pretty unlikely.
I inherited my brother's laptop and after having thought about it did a reinstall and wipe. I just didn't want to dig through his past or whatever he was doing. It might seem important to us now, but it won't be to our survivors.
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[ 288 ms ] story [ 156 ms ] threadMy will will contain instructions for how to unlock my private keys and get access to my 1password vault, or whatever I end up using the last.
My main e-mail address matches this (and most user names on various forums --- I even offered my son my @willadams Twitter handle which I don't use), so the current e-mail password is written down in an envelope in a safe and on my demise he can take over that e-mail and notify folks of my passing and more importantly, seamlessly take over those accounts tied to it which he views the digital content of worthwhile (Amazon Kindle w/ over 1,000 books, Amazon Music w/ decades worth of Amazon Rips for purchased CDs, GOG games (which brings us full circle almost).
Even physical media/first sale doesn't really protect all that much anymore, now that license keys tend to be single use and you have to pay to get another one. If you don't know what I'm talking about, try to buy a used CoD game and play it online. You will likely have to pay Activision more than twice what you payed GameStop.
The irony is that all this means "buying" ≠ "owning", yet:
- piracy is widely considered "theft"
- "buying" confers almost no rights. If I pay today, and they shut down the servers tomorrow, that's too bad. Get banned? No due process or refund; should have read the eula. Sony pulls the movie's license from the platform? Here is a $1 credit, you are welcome.
Not sure if this is a boiling frog scenario, a consumer ignorance issue, or if if most people just have bigger concerns than what happens to their movies when a licensing deal ends or they die.
Its a strange concept to me, especially when I see people who haven’t paid their off their house or student loans throwing things away that work fine.
A long time ago a particularly wasteful friend of mine tried to explain it by saying he was like a snake that eats and shits money and just keeps pumping it through without ever letting anything collect. I think this is accurate for quite a few people, even if they’re not articulate enough to explain it.
A company can steal the stuff I pay for legally, impose nasty DRM on my legal experience, limit my usage of it for arbitrary reasons, and they have the fucking audacity to tell me I can’t transfer shit when I fucking die?
I have copies of books from the 1960s, and you know what’s cool about them? They still work. If I die I can give them away to someone, if I want to read them tomorrow that’s something I can just do.
Did all the book companies just up and die because parents were able to leave books to their kids? That seems pretty unlikely.