Preserving your digital legacy: What happens to your MP3s when you die?

To spare the feelings of friends and family, these preserved profiles will not generate birthday reminders or be used to populate Facebook's lists of friend suggestions for users.

"[Facebook] will automatically memorialise an account when we know that an account user has passed away," the company said in a statement to IT Pro. "Anyone can request memorialisation, with proof of a user's passing." In some cases, friends and family may want the deceased person's profile deactivated or deleted, a situation Facebook is more than happy to comply with. "Family members/executors may request to have the profile removed entirely, but they do not have the right to actually access the account," a Facebook spokesperson added. "Verified immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one's account from the site, and Facebook will close or completely remove [it]." Microblogging site Twitter offers similar service, whereby a verified family member or the executor of the dead person's estate can ask the site to deactivate their account by supplying copies of the user's death certificate, driver's license and username details. These must be accompanied by a signed statement confirming their relationship to the deceased.