March 21, 2022

ICAEW Insights In Focus: Death and digital assets

40 minutes

In this Insights in Focus episode, we look at what happens to your digital assets after you die.

A large proportion of our lives are now lived online. The digital footprint of the average person on the street is getting bigger and bigger. Some of that includes assets that we really value, both from an emotional and financial perspective. Journalist and author Jamie Bartlett looks to answer the question: what happens to those assets when we die, and what do we need to consider?

Catherine Mayer understands how hard it can be to deal with a loved one’s digital assets. When her husband, Andy Gill, guitarist from the band Gang Of Four, died in 2020, his death trended on Twitter. Getting hold of his digital assets and accounts has been an uphill battle. She speaks about her experiences and what she’s learned from them.

Then Elaine Kasket, Bereavement Lead at the Digital Legacy Association and author of All the Ghosts in the Machine, explains the various complexities of people’s digital afterlife. David Lyford-Tilley, ICAEW’s Technical Manager, Tech and the Profession, gives a technology and legal perspective on how to manage your digital legacy.

Host:
Jamie Bartlett, technology journalist and author

Guests:
- Catherine Mayer, activist, journalist, co-founder of Women’s Equality Party and Primadonna Festival, author, 'Good Grief: Embracing Life at a Time of Death'.
- Elaine Kasket, psychologist, Bereavement Lead at the Digital Legacy Association, author, 'All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data'.
- David Lyford-Tilley, Technical Manager, Tech and the Profession.

Links:
- https://www.catherinemayer.co.uk/good-grief.
- https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/16/widow-of-gang-of-four-guitarist-andy-gill-reveals-how-she-was-ambushed-by-bereavement.
- https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/01/andy-gill-influential-guitarist-with-gang-of-four-dies-aged-64.
- https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/elaine-kasket/all-the-ghosts-in-the-machine/9781472141897/.
- https://digitallegacyassociation.org/.
- https://www.icaew.com/technical/audit-and-assurance/faculty/audit-and-beyond/audit-and-beyond-2021/audit-and-beyond-december-2021/the-implications-of-digital-assets-for-the-accountancy-profession .