• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.72
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• pp.165-203
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• 2022

Many people create records in digital space, and the amount of digital records left after individual dies has increased. The digital record left by the deceased is different from the record heritage that has physical substances. In many cases, the records of the deceased not just belong to the deceased, and many deceased did not explicitly disclose their online accounts and method of dispose of digital records during their lifetime, so this problem may lead to problems of inheritance to the bereaved family. In addition, digital records may be neglected or deleted after a person's death due to software problems, specific platform's terms of use, account deletion by bereaved family, etc. This leads to the problem that daily records, which are important clues to the social aspects at the time, are easily lost. Several studies have revealed that individuals are interested in preserving their digital records, but do not know how to do it, so they are benign neglect. For this reason, it is necessary to pay attention to personal digital records and personal digital legacy, and to prepare related policies and plans. Accordingly, this study analyzes problems related to the management of digital records after an individual's death, related to laws and systems, the status and policies of platforms and industries, the status of personal record management, etc. Various solutions were suggested, such as a need for enactment for digital personal record management act, platform's explicit policy for individual's post-mortem records, digital records management plan for archival institutions, individual's a preemptive management plan for his/her own records, and a method for writing a will related to digital account information.