Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dead Man's Switch

beta.deadmansswitch.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#71

Post by dgunn »

jarrett wrote: post #40
dgunn wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're doing a similar service so we've looked into it a bit. We found that as long as it isn't contested, nearly anything counts as a will. If your will is likely to stir things up among the beneficiaries though, you should definitely get a lawyer.

That depends where you are. See, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_will

Your right. But holographic wills will simply be carried out by the survivors unless there's a reason to involve a third party like a lawyer. That's why in almost all cases, will do not need to be official.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#72

Post by coderdude »

StavrosK wrote: post #42
corin_ wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I concur, with the following additional reasons. First, depending on what you meant by "mess up": there's a chance they're not trustworthy (would read something you don't want read), and there's also a chance they screw up (and lose what you want sent - or send it when it shouldn't be sent). Perhaps an even bigger thing for me is that an email seems so... off-hand, informal. I think if a friend/relative/etc died and…

Hey guys, I read the entire frontpage and somehow missed this story: I made Dead Man's Switch, and the beta is the second iteration, hosted on GAE. I certainly didn't expect it to be HNed so early. These are all valid concerns. This isn't meant to replace wills or lawyers, it's just something to tell your friends to maybe look for you in the mountains if you don't respond in X days. Some people also had the idea of u…

Sorry to spring this on you, but it looked interesting and I figured HN would dig it. Hopefully you're getting some good feedback though.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#73

Post by StavrosK »

coderdude wrote: post #72
StavrosK wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey guys, I read the entire frontpage and somehow missed this story: I made Dead Man's Switch, and the beta is the second iteration, hosted on GAE. I certainly didn't expect it to be HNed so early. These are all valid concerns. This isn't meant to replace wills or lawyers, it's just something to tell your friends to maybe look for you in the mountains if you don't respond in X days. Some people also had the idea of u…

Sorry to spring this on you, but it looked interesting and I figured HN would dig it. Hopefully you're getting some good feedback though.

I am, thanks! Luckily everything is going fine so far, and GAE is a champ.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#74

Post by ctdonath »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #63
ctdonath wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-sequitur. To the contrary, it may ensure bridges are there when you aren't, and may tell people how you feel when you're not around to. Example: there are a lot of people whom I care about, but who - with no ill will involved - we've drifted off in our own directions as life tends to. We have vague contact info, and lacking that have mutual friends who can pass things on if need be. Come my demise, I may want a m…

I'm thinking the parent comment was still right. Why not say those things now? Its not 'interrupting everyone', its keeping in contact. Its important to do that now, especially if you haven't in a while.

When you're talking about upwards of 1000 people, it becomes an interruption.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#75

Post by MichaelGG »

A way to deal with the issue of it accidentally triggering, as well as get quicker triggers, is to provide a list of family/friends that can verify your non-existence.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#76

Post by JimboOmega »

I've been working on a similar concept for a while too. I can only hope that mine turns out better (not that this one is bad - rather, if this one is better than mine, then mine is pretty useless!)

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#77

Post by rufibarbatus »

StavrosK wrote: post #49
rufibarbatus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beta is for a "new and improved" version. If you remove beta from the address, you can access the current let's-call-it "stable" version. I played around with this a while ago. Didn't think the way it's implemented solves the problem as I perceive it. (Plus, the risk of these confirmation emails ending up in spam felt a bit like a downer.)

I want to eventually integrate Twilio so it can call you and have you enter a PIN to check in, rather than email, or something to that effect (maybe reply to an SMS?). That's for a bit further ahead, though.

The twilio thing sounds like a good idea. Given the mechanics, the more means of communication you have, the better you're protected against false positives.

I'm still a bit unsure about the part where "you're responsible for asserting that you're still alive." I'd like break it down to its basic premises and see if they actually make sense. :-)

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#79

Post by icebraining »

lawlit wrote: post #57
notatoad wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you are worried that your email provider will go out of service without notice, you should get a different email provider.

I'm worried with _all_ email providers

You should get your own domain, then you can move at will.

Re: Dead Man's Switch

#80

Post by ChuckMcM »

StavrosK wrote: post #45
rheide wrote: post #12

I've actually been looking for this for a long time. I like to travel around and often wonder what will happen to my digital legacy (code, internet bank accounts, subscriptions to all kinds of things, scanned documents). My previous solution was to e-mail an encrypted file to my parents and give them the password to it on a note, which was then put in the safe. I'll try the site but I'm a bit wary of whether or not i…

I would recommend that everyone encrypts the emails that go on the service, as obviously we can't do it ourselves (we have to actually be able to read them to send them out!).

I guess you create an email, encrypt it with a 2048 bit AES key. And set it up to mail to your 'back up'.

Then you go and create 32 throw away email accounts and have each of them running their own aliveness test on a TOR proxy which is mailing you their queries.

When you go 'off line' the 32 mail their part of the key to the recipient, DMS mails them the main letter. :-)

Not a serious suggestion but it would be fun as a plot device in some cyber fiction.

Post reply on HN