Technology on Trial

"With London ranked as one of the most surveilled cities in world, this compelling exposé provides an eye-opening debate on the potency of surveillance from its voyeuristic effects on mankind to the incurred social control of populations. In these times of increased dependence on computer-mediated communications, where our moves are easily tracked, Article 12 serves as warning of a potential cultural catastrophe, which could see the future slip into an Orwellian society of mass surveillance and depleted personal and political freedoms. "

"Habeas corpus originated in English common law as a means to protect individuals from illegal detention. An individual who had been held in custody could file a petition seeking a writ which would require the custodian to provide adequate legal justification for the detention. If the custodian failed to do so, the court could order the petitioner's release."

This manifesto is firstly meant to raise awareness about the topic, secondly, it is an invitation to take action and, finally, it is meant to be the first step towards the creation of the Digital Habeas Corpus.

"The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved a package of bills and amendments today, to end mass surveillance in Europe and revamp the rules to protect the privacy rights of its citizens. "

"The committee has come up with seven key actions that it sees as a priority for the incoming Parliament this May 2014. Their focus - increase protection for European citizens' data, reduce the potential for unwarranted access from government and other agencies, and try to retain some semblance of privacy from misguided and prurient intrusion."

"The most recent NSA revelations that the full content of calls could be accessed was simply the latest in the long line of Edward Snowden revelations. But for Europe, the Snowden allegations and the Guardian campaign came at a critical time when the EU had already decided to overhaul its own outdated data protection, internet and privacy laws."

"The Digital Beyond maintains this list of online services that are designed to help you plan for your digital death and afterlife or memorialize loved ones. These services come in all flavors including digital estate services, posthumous email services and online memorials."

Electronic Signatures - Legal or Not?

Matt Warman is the Consumer Technology Editor.

The Digital Economy Act 2010 (c. 24) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulating digital media.

To create a 'c-book' on what it means to be a digital citizen in the 21st century

There are cur­rently few pro­ce­dures or pub­lic aware­ness about what hap­pens to on­line dig­i­tal iden­ti­ties after death. This paper dis­cusses what hap­pens with per­sonal elec­tronic in­for­ma­tion after death and looks to what is ar­gued to be the rapidly ap­proach­ing dig­i­tal Af­ter­life. This af­ter­life of new emer­gent be­hav­iour of­fers a chal­lenge of al­most unimag­in­able scope to the cre­ative vi­sion of Artists, Philoso­phers, Tech­nol­o­gists and Cul­tural thinkers.

Facebook profiles don't die the same way people do. If I Die is a Facebook app that makes sure, even if you die, your social self can still send out your last wishes and post messages to your friends years after you're gone. If I Die lets "you" post a final message to your wall and loved one when you're dead.

Sharing our lives on social networks is now commonplace, but what happens when we are gone? Channel 4 News finds people are thinking more carefully about their digital legacy.

We are creating digital legacies for ourselves every day - even, increasingly, every minute. More than a quarter of a million Facebook users will die this year alone. The information about ourselves that we record online is the sum of our relationships, interests and beliefs. It's who we are. Hans-Peter Brondmo, head of social software and services at Nokia in San Francisco, calls this collection of data our "digital soul".

Your photos, status updates and tweets will fascinate future historians. Will these online remains last forever? In this special report, newscientist.com editor Sumit Paul-Choudhury - for whom these are not idle questions - reports on life, loss, memory and forgetting in the internet age.

Jacques Mechelany, formerly a high-flying French banker, has thought a lot about death and the human legacy. One reason is that he has travelled so manically in planes that he felt impelled to update his will regularly. But also, a few years ago he inherited some stunning photo albums. They contained photos of his ancestors dating back to 1870 - but Mechelany was frustrated by how hard it was to find any personal details about them.

Fraudsters are increasingly targeting the estates of the deceased for valuable internet-hosted assets such as online bank accounts, private client lawyers have warned.

The increase has been linked to a rise in the use of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. The total number of defamation cases brought to court rose from 83 to 86. Meanwhile, the Libel Reform Campaign group said smaller website operators needed more legal backing to protect themselves against actions brought by what it described as "corporate bullies".