Would you use a digital time capsule for your family?

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digitaltimecapsule

New Member
Hi everyone!

My name is John and I recently joined the community to try to understand if people would use a digital time capsule. In other words, it's a way to store photos, videos, documents online and deliver them to your friends and loved ones at a later date!

I am not selling anything, I just like making websites and this has a particularly personal interest for me. Possible uses that I've thought of so far would be:
  • Share photos and videos with loved ones on special occasions. Record videos for your spouse or loved one that will deliver to them every anniversary for the next 20 years, even after we pass.
  • Store family memories into a single spot, then deliver to the family on a special date.
  • Store legal documents for your family, and release them "x" years in the future.
  • Send funny videos to grandchildren on birthday (you can record the videos years in advance, then let the computer deliver the message on their birthday)
I'm sure there are a lot of other uses, but those are what stuck out to me!

Do you think this would be something useful to you? Why or why not?

Thanks so much:) I hope you all have a good week!

P.S. if you would like to share feedback privately or try it out, send an email to me at seniorforums@xsimplify.io
 

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Interesting idea, but some questions immediately come to mind - - -

How will the "digital time capsule" website keep its contact information up-to-date? Can "recipients" be expected to update their addresses (or whatever) years into the future?

When considering this service, and before I pay for it, how can I be confident that the time capsule website will remain in business and fulfill its obligations years into the future? Especially after I'm dead and no longer able to monitor it.

What assurances will you provide customers that their information will remain safe, secure, and confidential? And why should they believe you?
 
I totally understand your concerns! I'm glad to know there are other people thinking about the same problems. Thanks for taking the time to give feedback!
How will the "digital time capsule" website keep its contact information up-to-date? Can "recipients" be expected to update their addresses (or whatever) years into the future?
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I think the concern here is that people change their phone numbers and emails occasionally and you don't want the information to send to the wrong person. The simple, but not perfect solution is to password protect your time capsule, so the wrong person doesn't access it. If you have creative ideas about a good long term solution to this, I would be happy to hear them.
how can I be confident that the time capsule website will remain in business and fulfill its obligations years into the future?
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The short answer is that there are no guarantees, but where I would like to go is using a peer to peer storage solution that would enable your uploaded files to be stored around the world, and completely securely without having to store the files in a central location like a single computer or memory drive. This would enable your files to be stored securely, even after the company goes out of business.
What assurances will you provide customers that their information will remain safe, secure, and confidential? And why should they believe you?
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This part is the simpler part of your question. The time capsule (and it's digital contents) can be completely encrypted, so no one else can view the content when they are in storage. The issue is, currently, people entrust law firms, financial planners, etc. with very sensitive documents and information. While those people are likely amazing at their job, and trustworthy, they don't follow best security practices to avoid getting hacked, mostly because they don't come from a software background. The current way people share confidential data is quite weak, so I just want to be clear that there are many technology enabled ways to improve security for your concerns.
 

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911 said:
What are the advantages for having a time capsule?
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The advantages would be that you can securely send files and documents to family members in the future, currently the only reliable way to make sure family get important documents is to either deliver them yourself, or when you pass away, have another person do it. If you have a lawyer or financial planner deliver the files, you are likely going to pay them a lot of money, for something that a computer can do securely and cheaply. Does that make sense?
 
digitaltimecapsule said:
Thanks for the response. Is there a particular reason you aren't interested, or is it just not useful to you?
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Because I have a basic distrust of anyone joining a forum and their first post is offering a "service." You say you are not selling, but it sounds to me like you are. So once people get onboard with having all their life stored on your "service," what's to keep you from selling the information or disseminating it as you see fit? And once you have it, will you then decide the service needs more fees? Sorry, I'm a skeptic and I can handle my own business.
 
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C'est Moi said:
Because I have a basic distrust of anyone joining a forum and their first post is offering a "service." You say you are not selling, but it sounds to me like you are. So once people get onboard with having all their life stored on your "service," what's to keep you from selling the information or disseminating it as you see fit? And once you have it, will you then decide the service is no longer free? Sorry, I'm a skeptic and I can handle my own business.
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Regardless, I just don’t see a need. When I die, all of my everything has already been spoken for. Why would I hold back pictures or documents until after my death?

Thinking like a cop, maybe if I stole wads of money or other negotiable securities, I may want to let my wife or whoever a note as to where I have the wad hidden. But, that’s a long shot. I don’t get it. What am I missing?
 
I understand the concerns, I suppose those are valid concerns for any early company on the internet. To answer your question, there isn't really anything preventing someone from selling your data, but then again, most people have no problem using facebook and google which are only free because they use all of your data to send ads.

There are legal ramifications for selling data and such if not specified in a term sheet, but even that isn't enough. What would make you confident in the idea, given you can get past the "first post is selling something"?
 
911 said:
Regardless, I just don’t see a need. When I die, all of my everything has already been spoken for. Why would I hold back pictures or documents until after my death?

Thinking like a cop, maybe if I stole wads of money or other negotiable securities, I may want to let my wife or whoever a note as to where I have the wad hidden. But, that’s a long shot. I don’t get it. What am I missing?
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It's more of a thoughtful possibility. Maybe if you suspect your wife will outlive you, you would schedule flowers to be delivered with a note every year after your pass for you alls anniversary. You could use a time capsule to accomplish something similar with sweet notes, or a personal video that she would receive every year.
 


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