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Research Outline
Prepared for Zach | Delivered September 24, 2019
Deadman's Switch Comparison
Review your project details
Goals
Provide a report comparing the effectiveness, and pros & cons of various versions of deadman's switches mentioned in the
previous report
.
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Early Findings
DEAD MAN'S SWITCH
EFFECTIVENESS
There doesn't seem to be much negative press surrounding Dead Man's Switch. For example, sites that analyze whether a product is a scam
seem to be in favor
of this product, however, it should be noted that overall consumer reviews and opinions of this product are lacking.
Nearly all the reviews and consumer opinions of this product and its effectiveness that are publicly available are vastly out-of-date, extending as far back as 2012 or 2008. The most in depth of these reviews can be found
here
.
Some
t
e
c
h
-
s
a
a
v
y
consumers have
questioned the security
of this company's website.
PROS
The process of using this product appears to be
simple
, as the user appears to only need to write a few e-mails, select the senders, and then save them.
Users can write up
two
emails for free before needing to upgrade to a premium account that will allow them to write more emails.
The user can
choose how often
they want the system to send them a check in email to determine if the user is still alive.
The user can
notify the system
if they know they will be inactive/away for some
p
e
r
i
o
d
o
f
t
i
m
e
and unable to check their email for the check ins.
CONS
The user only has a maximum
60
days from the date of their last check in to let the system know they are still alive before the system automatically sends out the emails to their loved ones.
One may logically assume that this check-in process could become monotonous/redundant, or if the user forgets to check their email for some extended
p
e
r
i
o
d
o
f
t
i
m
e
because they get busy or go on a trip, etc. then it seems that the system may end up sending out the emails even though the user is still alive.
Some consumers have expressed opinions that the security of this company's website may be
questionable
(i.e. may be easily hacked), likely suggesting that users use caution in regard to the level of hypersensitive information they allow to be stored on the site.
DEADMAN.IO
EFFECTIVENESS
No consumer reviews of deadman.io were located.
No objective insights regarding the effectiveness of this product were located.
A lack of consumer insight on this project has prevented an analysis into its effectiveness from being completed.
PROS
Rather than just attempting to contact the user by email to check in on their livelihood as some other deadman's switch products do, this product will attempt to
call or text
the user in addition to email.
Users can store
any size
file and any file type.
CONS
Unclear origins
of this website.
Lack of detail
into the safety and security of the website, as well as a lack of detail regarding the overall company.
GOOGLE'S INACTIVE ACCOUNT MANAGER
EFFECTIVENESS
Nearly half
of the world's population uses Google's services, making it one of the largest tech companies in the world. Based on this, one could logically assume that Google deadman's switch is likely effective.
Google's Inactive Account Manager was launched in
2013
and since then there does not appear to have been any negative press about this product, such as the product being ineffective.
PROS
Google provides users with
flexible
options in regard to when the deadman switch is activated.
A
u
t
o
r
e
p
l
y
feature can be
enabled
for anyone attempting to contact that user after they have become inactive.
Users can
decide
if they want their account deleted once it has become inactive or to simply mark it as inactive.
CONS
Anyone who the user chooses to notify (up to
10 people
) will have access to the user's data once the user has become inactive, however the user can choose which pieces of data they will have access to, which helps to cancel out this con.
It doesn't appear
this service is intended for sending personalized postmortem sentiments to loved ones as the previous products mentioned here are.
RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH
Very little is known about the effectiveness of these products, likely due to the fact that the user would no longer be alive once the products use is realized and therefore unable to publish their opinions/thoughts/reviews of the products.
There doesn't seem to be any negative press regarding these products that would highlight their ineffectiveness, such as anecdotes of sensitive information being sent out to loved one's while the user is still alive, etc.
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