What young Australians might lack in physical assets - like houses and cars - we probably make up for in digital ones.
No doubt you have an account with every social media site, an email address, subscriptions to streaming services like Netflix and Spotify and user accounts for your bank account, phone and utilities.
These are just some of the digital assets we have accumulated in the digital age and use regularly, if not on a day-to-day basis.
The fact is, even if Google isn't technically listening to our conversations, we're still sharing whole load of personal info online all the time.
So what happens to all of it after we die?
Yeslam Al-Saggaf is an Associate Professor of Information Technology at Charles Sturt University, who has previously conducted research projects in this area.
He says while thinking about your death is a bit morbid, we need to be making decisions about our digital lives now.
According to Yeslam, failing to think about these assets could have some serious consequences even after we die, such as "ID theft, fraud, damage to the reputation of the deceased person, crimes committed in the name of the deceased person, financial liabilities (loan in the name of the deceased person) and risks to the safety of the social network of the deceased person".
Hang on, what are digital assets?
Digital assets are, in short, anything you've created, uploaded or set up online.
Currently, there is no law in Australia that directly addresses what happens to your digital assets when you die, or who can access it.
The NSW Law Reform Commission is currently reviewing existing laws that can be applied to digital assets and came up with the following definitions:
- Personal assets (email accounts, texts, social media profiles)
- Financial assets (online bank accounts, PayPal, cryptocurrency)
- Business (EBay, Spotify, customer orders)
- Intellectual property rights (domain names, images and writing files on your computer)
- Loyalty program benefits
- Sports gambling accounts
- Online gaming accounts
Yeslam defines digital assets as "any digital object that has either a sentimental value or a monetary value".
He broke it down even further.
"In addition to their IP in blogs, PayPal accounts, Frequent Flyer points, loyalty accounts, digital gift cards, Apple Pay wallets and game credits/coins, young people upload a broad range of digital assets to the cloud including their photos, their designs, their playlists, their project documents, their ideas, their reading lists, their travels," he told Hack.
Can't I just give someone my password?
You could just tell family or friends your passwords for all your accounts. But its still possible that individual companies will deny your relatives access to make decisions about your accounts.
Other sites prohibit someone else to transfer your data after your death. And the NSW Law Reform Commission says you may not be protected from criminal liability if you access someone else's computer files after death, even if you were "authorised" to do so.
Hack InvestigatesIn calling for the review into the laws in this area, NSW Attorney General Mark Speakman highlighted the need for laws to keep up with pervasive digital technology.
"When a loved one passes away, bureaucratic hurdles and legal uncertainty are the last thing families and friends feel like confronting, so we need clear and fair laws to deal with these 21st Century problems," he said.
"The Law Reform Commission will also look at whether additional privacy protections are needed in situations where a person hasn't made arrangements for anyone to take control of their social media or access their private emails."
To delete or not to delete
A spokesperson for the NSW Law Reform Commission told Hack there are several options for dealing with a person's digital records when they die.
Specifically concerning social media profiles, one option would be to "require social media companies to delete our digital footprints when we die".
Yeslam says it's a bit of a grey area determining who actually owns your data on social media, so any legislation in this area would have a big impact.
"Social media users think they own the data they share on social media, but I think social media providers believe they own the data," he said.
"Users may have access to their data, and they can control who has access to their data, but in terms of ownership, it's a bit tricky.
If social media providers are required by law to delete people's digital footprints after they die, then this will have a major effect."
Facebook already has 'In Memoriam' services, memorialising a user's page after death.
"[But] platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest don't have such mechanisms," Yeslam said.
"They should. It is the moral thing to do. They have a duty of care towards protecting the dignity of their users in the event of their death."
Other suggestions by the Law Reform Commission could involve "requiring the user (during their lifetime) to nominate what should happen".
That would mean telling Facebook, for example, to delete your profile when informed of your death, or make a memoriam page or give a nominated person complete access to your account.
You could then leave all your online assets to an executor to deal with in your will, or not do anything at all.
Yeslam says just as you would organise to have your financial assets sorted out after your death, you should consider sorting your digital ones, too.
The NSW Law Reform Commission is still reviewing laws in this area and hope to publish their recommendations by the end of the year.