What happens to your data when you die?
An individual’s digital footprint will long outlive them. That presents many quandaries
![An illustration of an open coffin with a large cursor on the lid.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240713_CUD002.jpg)
FRANZ KAFKA died 100 years ago in literary obscurity. He had instructed his friend Max Brod to burn his unpublished works. Fortunately for generations of readers, Brod did not; he believed Kafka to be among the greatest writers of his time and instead edited and published his late friend’s writing. In other words, Brod decided that Kafka’s stories belonged not to the late author, but to the literate public.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “A date with destiny and your data”
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