On Thu, 10 May 2001, Gabe Goldberg wrote:
> Web servers must hold truckloads of messages in the accounts of people who
> have died.

An interesting question indeed.

Back in '92 I was working with Kathryn Wright on compiling a comprehensive
directory of BITNET/Internet aliases and where such did not exist figure
out "routed" addresses which would get the job done.  Well, she died
unexpectedly and I didn't have her data.  Her sister, her sole heir,
gave me permission (snail mail) to access her university account and
to have everything on her home computer loaded to that account so I
could finish the project.  Despite the permission of the sole heir it
never happened, so I had to drop the project.

These days such a project may sound silly, but I assure you it wasn't
back then; there were a lot of people on BITNET/EARN and the Internet
(which you will recall was still, at that time, still quite restricted
of access) who could not contact each other as they didn't know how to
bridge the gap.           Douglas