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Panel Discussion

RIP, if you can

Curated by Ezgi Aktug and Merit Zimmermann

5 November 2023
16:00 — 17:15


Location: Stadsklooster
Tickets

What will happen to your data after you die? While the digital rights of the living are protected by laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the dead have no digital rights. In fact there are no regulations at all that specify how your digital estate should be handled. The result is a lack of clarity about the status of personal content on the accounts of deceased individuals. Given the huge amounts of data stored online by digital natives, this is deeply problematic. 

Meanwhile, a new digital afterlife industry is taking shape, with big tech conglomerates like Facebook and apps like Afternote leading the charge. They already offer a range of services, from posthumous messaging to online memorials and even AI-powered resurrections. With these advancements, it’s clear that discussing our digital afterlife has become more important than ever! This panel will bring together experts from multiple fields — including law, ethics, politics, and media culture — to address the challenges of managing and protecting post-mortem digital rights.

Presenting a balanced exploration of the digital afterlife using intriguing questions and what-if scenarios to cover wishful and cautionary perspectives.

Share your thoughts on what should happen to your digital legacy at this non-traditional, open forum. The invited speakers have a diverse range of backgrounds, attitudes, interests and experience. Mireille van Eechoud will bring her extensive expertise on legal and regulatory issues surrounding the digital rights of the living and the dead. Julia Janssen will add a critical artistic perspective on the intersection of the digital, physical and social realms. And Marius Ursache will further complement the discussion with his insider knowledge about the digital afterlife industry, offering an inspiring account of what digital immortality can accomplish when done “right”. ​As a panel, they will present inspiring ideas for the future of post-mortem digital rights – and warn us about its dark side. 

TICKET FOR THIS PROGRAMME

What else is on Sunday?

Check the timetable to visit more programmes with your Festival Pass (5-days). With the pass you can also visit the festival exhibition Our Terms, Our Conditions at the IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] and Fotodok/Casco.

5-day festival pass

For more information on the festival tickets please see here

Ezgi Aktug Merit Zimmermann Mireille van Eechoud Julia Janssen Marius Ursache

Ezgi Aktug

― Curator

Ezgi Aktug is an interdisciplinary cultural practitioner based in Rotterdam who blends a background in social sciences and humanities with a diverse cultural and educational experience. Through her work, Ezgi strives to create meaningful connections between diverse perspectives, fostering engaging cultural experiences that delve into digital culture, urban life, mental health, migration, and labour politics. Currently, she teaches in the Arts and Culture department at Erasmus University Rotterdam and works freelance as a curator and art mediator for various organizations.

Merit Zimmermann

― Curator

Merit Zimmermann is an independent researcher, writer, and curator. Her interests fall into fields of art history, sociology, and the humanities, including cultural, curatorial, media, urban, museum and heritage studies. She has presented research at international conferences, published texts in academic and journalistic media, and held various positions within the arts and culture sector. Having recently returned from a curatorial residency in Shanghai, she currently works freelance for galleries, museums, magazines, cultural organizations, agencies, and start-ups.

Mireille van Eechoud

― Speaker

Mireille van Eechoud is professor of information law at the University of Amsterdam, Institute for Information Law. She is an expert in intellectual property law, especially copyright, related rights and database protection. Together with colleagues she has advised the Dutch government on legal questions surrounding ‘data after death’: what legal means of control do persons have to manage how their data are handled after death? What is the position of next of kin? How can social media platforms and other information providers empower users? The report was presented to the Dutch Parliament.

Julia Janssen

― Speaker

Julia Janssen is an artist who researches the influence of digitisation on our society. She makes the challenges of data, Artificial Intelligence and (surveillance) technology tangible through interactive and performative installations. Janssen creates awareness for digital rights and makes experiences that make people think about their relationship with their data, digital identity and the future of the Internet. How do we deal with freedom, autonomy, equality and democracy in a data-driven society? In addition to her practice as an independent artist, Janssen is, among others. active as a public speaker, (guest) lecturer and ambassador of The Dutch Data Protection Foundation (SDBN). Studio Julia Janssen creates movement. Not to privacy – but to a digital society where you can decide who knows what about you.

Marius Ursache

― Speaker

Marius is a serial entrepreneur, data & process freak and in the past ten years has worked with AI in finance, recruitment and "digital immortality". He has graduated as a medical doctor, has an MA in Theater; is a self-taught designer, developer, manager, DJ, and music producer; and has worked in media, design, healthcare, marketing, fintech, AI, innovation consulting, investment advisory, and more, for the past 25 years. Marius has founded four companies, an NGO, and a music festival pursuing these interests, including Eternime (started out from an MIT project) which tried to create digital immortal twins for people, by collecting their digital footprint and using AI to automatically generate their life stories. Born and raised in Romania, Marius has lived and worked around the world: he ran a full marathon in North Korea; drank fresh cow blood with the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia; taught entrepreneurship at MIT and NASA; survived frog poison with the Matses tribe in the Amazon; learned to speak Spanish using Tinder in Chile; or cooked tajine for fishermen in Morocco. If not obvious, he truly believes that specialization is for insects.

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