Tuesday, February 10, 2015

You can delete Facebook ID and Google ID, but Apple IDs are eternal (also iCloud).

My mother died on Dec 14, 2014. She was fortunate to live in Quebec, which manages the dying process far better than anywhere in the US. It went about as well as it could, and, thanks to all that socialism stuff, she left her family the estate she was determined to pass on. Points for a stubborn woman.

Dying is a complicated business, and I’m only now getting around to cleaning up her online accounts. They are a bit simpler than mine — I had only 3 identities to remove - Facebook, Google and Apple.

Facebook and Google were simple.

Apple — not so much. There is no way to remove an Apple ID, or to remove the associated iCloud data. Apple IDs are eternal.

Sigh. Oh Apple, you get away with so much.

The best I could do was to change her password to something awesomely strong by today’s standards and hope it doesn’t get hacked around 2040 or so.

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