Podcast Summary: Les Clés #medias : Numérique : quelle trace laissons-nous après notre décès ?
Host: Arnaud Ruyssen (RTBF)
Guests: Louis de Disbach (éthicien de la technique), Alix Goebert (chercheuse en droit et société, spécialisée protection des données), Reporters/Listeners/Jérôme Haute (notaire)
Date: 13 novembre 2025
Theme: Exploring what happens to our digital traces after death—ethical, legal, practical, and societal implications.
Main Theme Overview
This episode of Les Clés Médias delves into a growing and deeply relevant question: What becomes of our digital selves after we die? The host and guests unravel the issues surrounding our "numérique post-mortem"—the vast troves of data, social profiles, and digital remnants we leave behind—and how individuals, families, jurists, tech companies, and society at large must grapple with the legacy of digital death.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. The Scale of Digital Legacy and Its Fictional Roots
- Fiction meets reality: The episode opens with a Black Mirror scenario where an AI reconstructs a deceased person from their digital traces.
- “Il y aura bientôt plus de morts que de vivants sur Facebook.” — Alix Goebert [00:05]
- Oxford study: By the mid-21st century, Facebook will host more profiles of deceased than living people.
- “D'ici quelques dizaines d'années, il y aura sur Facebook plus de pages de gens décédés que de gens vivants.” — Host [03:40]
2. Managing Digital Remains: Platforms and Personal Strategies
- Facebook options: Users (and heirs) can memorialize or delete profiles, but only with proactive steps or official documentation like a death certificate.
- Tutorial segment explains how to designate a legacy contact. [04:38]
- Vastness of the issue: Other platforms and data forms (emails, photos, purchases) remain largely unaddressed and unmanaged.
- Legal vacuum in Europe: RGPD/GDPR only applies to the living; after death, digital rights vanish unless national laws provide otherwise (few do).
- “Le RGPD ne s'applique en fait que du vivant des personnes et cesse de s'appliquer à partir du moment où les personnes décédées.” — Alix Goebert [10:23]
3. Ethical and Philosophical Questions
- Are we reducible to our digital selves?
- “Sommes-nous, oui ou non, plus que la somme de nos traces numériques ?” — Louis de Disbach *[07:55]
- Dignity of the dead and the bereaved:
- The right not to be reanimated as a chatbot (“Do Not Bot Me”).
- Risks of commercial exploitation of grief.
- “Je suis mort, je suis mort, laissez-moi tranquille.” — Louis de Disbach [08:48]
- The double dignity challenge: Respect deceased individuals while protecting mourners from manipulation, hacking, or emotional harm. [08:41]
4. Practical Advice: Anticipation and Notarial Tools
- Planning for your digital life after death:
- Belgian notaries now offer secure digital vaults (Easynot, Izimi) to store codes, documents, and even explicit instructions for heirs.
- “La question des données numériques et de leur récupération lors d'une succession émerge doucement dans le monde notarial...” — Jérôme Haute [15:20]
- Suggestion to keep a comprehensive list of passwords and profiles, updating them in a secure digital safe.
- Izimi allows the transmission of all or part of the vault contents to heirs.
- Risks of neglect:
- Perpetual digital presence (annual birthday reminders for deceased, awkward friend suggestions).
- Identity fraud or hacking risks of abandoned profiles.
- Loss of precious family archives when no one can access cloud services (e.g., Google Photos).
- “Le premier risque, c'est finalement un risque d'éternisation de l'identité numérique...” — Alix Goebert [18:15]
5. Collective Issues: Digital Heritage & The "Common Good"
- Our past online, a common heritage?
- Aggregated data (e.g. social media on historic nights) has value far beyond individual posts.
- The question of who gets to decide—tech giants, legislators, society?
- “Qui décide ? Qui sont les gardiens des gardiens ?” — Louis de Disbach, citing Shoshana Zuboff [22:11]
- Tech companies’ interests vs. public interest:
- AI relies on enormous datasets, including deceased users.
- “Supprimer des données d'un set d'entraînement, c’est potentiellement perdre en qualité de cette intelligence artificielle.” — Louis de Disbach [23:10]
- What of consent for the use of deceased users’ data in this context?
- AI relies on enormous datasets, including deceased users.
6. Environmental and Societal Impact
- Hidden material costs: Data centers to support our digital afterlives consume staggering amounts of energy.
- “Les serveurs consomment déjà d'importantes ressources, on le sait. Ça explose encore avec l'IA...” — Host [06:31] / [24:01]
- Society’s neglect of the topic:
- Lack of public debate benefits industry narratives:
- “Les personnes qui gèrent le narratif autour de la tech ont vraiment intérêt à ce qu'on n'en parle pas beaucoup.” — Louis de Disbach [24:01]
- Suggestion for further episodes specifically on the environmental impact of AI and data storage.
- Lack of public debate benefits industry narratives:
7. Transhumanist Fantasies and the Pursuit of Digital Immortality
- Why is Silicon Valley obsessed with defeating death?
- “C’est vraiment s’élever au rang de Dieu .... Quel fantasme plus ultime que de se prendre pour Dieu et effectivement de pouvoir combattre la mort.” — Louis de Disbach [25:01]
- Seen more as a quest for ultimate power rather than a literal pursuit of immortality.
Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments
On the reality of digital ghosts:
“La mort d'une personne ne signifie pas sa mort numérique.”
— Louis de Disbach [00:01]
On the future of digital profiles:
“Il y aura bientôt plus de morts que de vivants sur Facebook.”
— Alix Goebert [00:05]
On the illusion of human simulation:
“Tu tapes des messages, comme pour un e-mail, et ça te répond comme lui l'aurait fait.”
— Listener 2, discussing chatbot recreations [01:42]
On philosophical identity:
“Sommes-nous, oui ou non, plus que la somme de nos traces numériques ?”
— Louis de Disbach [07:55]
On the right to digital rest:
“Je suis mort, je suis mort, laissez-moi tranquille.”
— Louis de Disbach [08:48]
On legal gaps:
“Le RGPD ... cesse de s'appliquer à partir du moment où les personnes décédées.”
— Alix Goebert [10:23]
On collective digital memory and power:
“Qui décide ? Qui sont les gardiens des gardiens ?”
— Louis de Disbach [22:11]
On industry motivations:
“Tant qu’on a des données, on va les utiliser.”
— Louis de Disbach [23:10]
On the ultimate fantasy of tech elites:
“C’est vraiment s’élever au rang de Dieu... de pouvoir combattre la mort.”
— Louis de Disbach [25:01]
Important Timestamps
- 00:01–03:23: Fictional scenario (Black Mirror), scale of digital legacy, Oxford study
- 03:40–05:17: Social media legacy features, early practical advice
- 06:01–07:43: Environmental concerns; introduction of Louis de Disbach
- 07:43–10:01: Philosophical and ethical dimensions, dignity
- 10:23–14:49: Legal framework, RGPD limitations, what heirs can and cannot do
- 15:08–17:40: Notarial digital vaults, anticipation advice
- 18:15–20:22: Risks of unmanaged data—identity theft, loss of memories
- 21:41–23:10: Collective archival issues, data as "common good", tech industry interests
- 24:01–25:01: Environmental impact, societal neglect of the issue
- 25:01–25:33: Transhumanism and the cult of the digital, "being God"
- 25:33–end: Host wraps up on the broader questions raised (ethics, legal, societal transmission)
Structure & Flow
The episode progresses from evocative pop culture examples, to practical and legal guidance, and finally to deeper ethical and collective considerations—always circling back to the fundamental questions: What do we want to leave behind? Who decides? And what kind of digital eternity do we want for ourselves and society?
For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode
Les Clés Médias episode takes a 360-degree look at digital death: blending the chilling plausibility of sci-fi with the messiness of everyday life. You’ll come away understanding not only the technical and legal state of digital afterlife, but why it matters philosophically and emotionally. The discussion is nuanced, clear, and punctuated by both practical advice and larger reflections—a must-listen if you’ve ever wondered what happens to your data when you’re gone.