The arrival of Internet communication and its increasing popularity sees us creating new identities, a part of us that exists online via social networks and virtual communities. We now live in an age where our innermost thoughts and feelings have all been given a voice, one that essentially can, and might, live on forever via the World Wide Web. What happens to our online selves once we cease to exist in the real world? Digital information does not disappear as easily as physical information. You cannot shred it or rub it out with an eraser. It does not have a physical element, one that you can discard or destroy. So what should be done with our online identity once we pass away? Should the online self be given a proper burial and if so, who has the right to decide? This paper will look at how our presence online has become a major part of our lives, how we have used the Internet to create an extension of our physical selves. It will also discuss the impact our death can have on our online presence and those we connect with. Do we put enough thought into the impressions we leave behind? Finally, it will look at our options in planning for the inevitable, writing our digital will, as well as our moral obligations and responsibilities not only to our digital selves, but those we leave behind.
