81–90 of 129 posts
When you’re dead, you don’t have rights anymore because you’re not a person anymore. Anything of value that survived your death- property, money, IP rights, etc. now are part of an estate which is administered and distributed according to your will and/or state law. Other than your state’s law and your will, it’s not up to you what happens to your stuff after you die. Artifacts of your existence that you did not own,…
I've been submitting my dad's death certificate to Facebook for 4 years now. His account is still active and people still wish him happy birthday every year. Facebook has a process for that. You have a dedicated proof, like death certificate, upload form, and the account is supposed to change into "in memoriam". Their part of the process is not to give a shit.
When you’re dead, you don’t have rights anymore because you’re not a person anymore. Anything of value that survived your death- property, money, IP rights, etc. now are part of an estate which is administered and distributed according to your will and/or state law. Other than your state’s law and your will, it’s not up to you what happens to your stuff after you die. Artifacts of your existence that you did not own,…
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/27/deepfakes... - June 27th, 2025 As you mention, if copyright law codifies the rights, it then becomes trivial to stick the property rights to self into a trust or other post death entity for the estate to administer and enforce. The nation state policy is the hard part.
I've been submitting my dad's death certificate to Facebook for 4 years now. His account is still active and people still wish him happy birthday every year. Facebook has a process for that. You have a dedicated proof, like death certificate, upload form, and the account is supposed to change into "in memoriam". Their part of the process is not to give a shit.
This actually used to work well. I had to memorialize my ex boyfriend's (long time ago) profile. His mother was using it to spout scripture of homophobic nature, and message his friends acting like he was still around - to this day, I'm not sure to what end. Once it was memorialized, I got the expected harumph message from her passed through the grapevine, and then never heard about it again. All it took was a link t…
So many ways to say “we don’t care”
Some object that villains of history might have their remarks scrubbed by relatives. I'm not arguing for that, just about the AI aspects. You can't really stop it for historical figures, but at the same time I see little value in AI Hitler, AI Jesus, or whoever. Such simulacra are invariably puppets for the living to exploit. If you want an AI version of yourself, make it or at least plan for it before you're dead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you agree with all the privacy invasive opt-out features in every commercial service?
I see that as a bit different, since we are talking about something posthumous here. Privacy is important while we're alive because it can have an impact on our future life. In death, we live on for the sake of our loved ones and the future of humanity, or at least that's how I see it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."
And then 4000 years later people start saying your name again, and find out what a bad copper merchant you were.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
To lawyers, “likeness”is a term of art and means much more than just how you look, including image, name, voice, and other identifiable features. Basically it’s what actors bring to contracts in addition to their labor. I don’t claim to understand all the intricacies but it is the relevant term of art when discussing this topic from a legal perspective.
Yes, but none of that is truly unique. The odds of a doppleganger sharing my name are astronomically slim but my looks, voice, interests, personality, etc. are not truly unique to me. For an example, what of voice impersonators? Sounding like Morgan Freeman is not unique to Morgan Freeman. What if a soundalike legally changes their name to Morgan Freeman? What if a lookalike changes their name? I'm familiar with the…
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/849...
> We need not and do not go so far as to hold that every imitation of a voice to advertise merchandise is actionable. We hold only that when a distinctive voice of a professional singer is widely known and is deliberately imitated in order to sell a product, the sellers have appropriated what is not theirs and have committed a tort in California.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it killed 5 people for $200 each by shutting off their CPAP machines?
I know you're joking, but this doesn't feel too far off the mark in this world of late-stage capitalism run amok. Give it another 15 years and the bleeding edge[!] insurance companies are likely employing agents to go after clients who have become a net drain on their P&L. The agents probably won't be doing that "themselves", but instead will be offering bounties (think: contracts) on suitably well hidden assassinati…