You've written your will. You've talked to your family about end-of-life care. But have you told Google what you want to happen to your Gmail or YouTube accounts?
That's the stated purpose behind a tool the search giant announced Thursday: Inactive Account Manager. (In a blog post, the company admitted it was "not a great name.") It covers all Google accounts, including Blogger, Drive, Google+ and Picasa.
Inactive Account Manager lets you set a "timeout period" of three, six, nine or 12 months. After that, Google will either delete your data or pass it on to a trusted friend or family member.
In case you just happen to be on extended (rather than permanent) vacation, the Account Manager will send a text to your cellphone and an email to a designated non-Google account before taking action.
"This new feature will enable you to plan your digital afterlife in a way that protects your privacy and security," writes Google product manager Andreas Tuerk.
Of course, it's hardly the first tool that lets you plan your digital afterlife; we've covered a number of services that deal in this morbid and necessary subject. But it does give Google a jump on Facebook, which has an afterlife policy (profiles are turned into "memorial" pages; family members can petition to take them down) but no tool to let users decide ahead of time.
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