Digital Assets Additional Resources
SevenPonds recommends the following resources to our clients who wish to learn more about digital assets.
Organizations and Associations
Digital Legacy Association (DLA)
The only professional membership body dedicated to digital assets and digital legacy, the DLA sets ethical standards for anyone who helps others plan for their online afterlife. They publish free guides for the public, train hospice staff on digital legacy conversations, and host an annual conference that brings together technologists, grief counselors, and funeral directors. For a family seeking trustworthy information, the DLA’s website is a non-commercial, evidence-based starting point.
Digital Legacy Clinic (University of Colorado Boulder)
A pro bono service founded by Dr. Jed Brubaker, the Digital Legacy Clinic offers free tech support to people with terminal illnesses and their families. Students and researchers help patients download photos, close accounts, transfer domains, and write instructions for loved ones—all at no cost. It is a remarkable model that proves digital legacy help should not require hiring a lawyer or an expensive consultant.
Permanent Legacy Foundation
A nonprofit working toward certification as a “trusted digital repository,” the foundation aims to preserve ordinary people’s digital lives for future historians and descendants. Unlike commercial platforms that may disappear or change terms, the foundation focuses on long-term, open-source preservation methods. For someone who worries that a free photo service might go bankrupt in 20 years, this foundation represents hope for a more durable digital future.
Notable Thought Leaders and Advocates
Daniel Sieberg
A former Google executive and co-founder of the digital legacy platform GoodTrust, Sieberg brings a Silicon Valley insider’s perspective to the problem of online death. His book Digital Legacy warns that without a plan, your data could be lost forever—or worse, exploited by algorithms that never knew you. He focuses on preserving human stories, not just passwords, encouraging readers to think of digital planning as an act of storytelling for future generations.
Rikard Steiber
Co-founder of GoodTrust alongside Daniel Sieberg, Steiber applies his background in global tech leadership to the messy, emotional reality of digital inheritance. He has testified before government bodies about the need for clearer laws regarding access to deceased users’ accounts, making him an important advocate for policy change. His writing emphasizes that digital legacy is not a luxury for the wealthy but a basic human right in the 21st century.
John Romano
As co-founder of The Digital Beyond with Evan Carroll, John Romano has spent more than a decade cataloging how social networks, email providers, and cloud services handle death. His research has been cited in legal journals and consumer guides, giving him a reputation as the most meticulous fact-checker in the digital afterlife space. For a family trying to figure out if they can retrieve a deceased relative’s iPhone photos, Romano’s platform offers platform-specific answers without marketing fluff.
Dr. Elaine Kasket
A cyberpsychologist and author, Dr. Kasket bridges the gap between our digital habits and our deepest human need for connection after death. Her book All the Ghosts in the Machine walks readers through the emotional and practical chaos that occurs when someone dies without a digital plan, using real-life stories that are both haunting and hopeful. She provides specific language for talking to family members about passwords, social media, and cloud storage without sounding morbid.
Niki Weiss (The Digital Thanatologist)
As a hospice nurse turned digital legacy educator, Weiss coined the term “Digital Thanatology” to blend end-of-life care with modern technology. Her podcast The Digital Legacy features interviews with families who have lost loved ones and struggled to access photos, accounts, or financial data locked behind passwords. She offers a simple, compassionate framework for creating a “digital legacy folder” that anyone—even the least tech-savvy person—can assemble in an afternoon.
Books and Practical Guides
The Afterlife of Data by Carl Öhman
A digital ethicist at the University of Oxford, Öhman asks a provocative question: What will the world do with the combined digital remains of billions of people? This slim, powerful book explores how our data—from old tweets to medical records—could become the largest archaeological record in human history, for better or worse. It’s ideal for someone who wants the philosophical big picture before diving into practical checklists.
Digital Legacy: Take Control of Your Online Afterlife by Daniel Sieberg and Rikard Steiber
Written by two tech entrepreneurs who helped build global platforms, this book is part memoir, part manual, and part wake-up call. It walks readers through real cases where families were locked out of loved ones’ digital lives because no one thought to leave a plan. The authors provide a simple three-step framework—Inventory, Instruct, Inspire—that turns an overwhelming task into a manageable weekend project.
Your Digital Afterlife: When Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter Are Your Estate, What’s Your Legacy? by Evan Carroll and John Romano
The original consumer guide to digital death, this book remains relevant because it focuses on timeless principles rather than trendy apps. Carroll and Romano teach readers how to distinguish between assets that have financial value (cryptocurrency, online businesses) and those that hold sentimental value (photos, emails, social media). Each chapter ends with action items, making it a workbook as much as a read.
All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data by Dr. Elaine Kasket
A rare blend of psychological depth and practical advice, this book helps readers understand why we avoid planning for our digital death—and how to overcome that avoidance. Kasket shares moving stories of widows who couldn’t access their late husband’s phone and parents who lost years of baby photos to an expired cloud subscription. She also offers scripts for difficult conversations with aging parents who may not understand what “the cloud” even is.
Take Control of Your Digital Legacy (2nd Edition) by Joe Kissell
Part of the beloved “Take Control” series of bite-sized tech books, this guide is the most practical, step-by-step resource available for non-technical readers. Kissell helps you identify all your digital assets (including hidden ones like two-factor authentication backup codes) and decide who should get what. He also addresses when to delete—an often overlooked but important part of digital legacy planning.
Managing Digital Legacies by Andrew Kalat
A free, downloadable guide written by a cybersecurity professional who learned the hard way after his own family tragedy. Kalat provides checklists for everything: password managers, backup routines, online banking, social media, and even digital subscriptions that auto-renew for years after someone dies. The guide is written with dark humor and deep empathy, making it one of the most readable resources in the space.