The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported a new service for those who wish to inform others that they have departed this world. I think they should have used the word “zombie” or “bot” somewhere in the product name:

A professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, has started an Internet service that allows users to send e-mail messages from beyond the grave.

[…]

The service, called Deathswitch, works by automatically sending a message to the customer, usually every two weeks, just checking to see if that person is still alive. If no answer is received, the service goes into “worry mode� and starts pestering the person some more. Eventually the customer is declared dead, and the e-mails announcing such are sent.

Gives new meaning to the concept of virtual suicide. On the other hand just imagine how this changes the definition of a denial of service. If someone/something can successfully block your Deathswitch messages, they might be able to have you officially reported as dead. How weird is that? Would people/companies stop talking with you after you erroneously announced your own death? Sounds like a dead-smurf attack. Will a market emerge for resurrection after false death? Rebirthswitch? Oh, the possibilities for abuse and false positives…