There are some things in life that we hope we will never need.
Emergency contacts. Backups. Insurance. Important documents stored safely. Instructions for situations in which we may unexpectedly become unavailable.
For me, DeadSender is part of that same approach to preparedness.
I use a digital dead-man’s-switch service as a precautionary measure, not because I expect something bad to happen to me, and not because I am making an accusation against anyone.
The purpose is much simpler: if I unexpectedly become unable to communicate or check in for an extended period, I want certain important information and messages to have a mechanism for reaching their intended recipients.
What Is DeadSender?
DeadSender is a service based around the concept of a digital dead man’s switch.
The basic idea is straightforward: a person prepares information or messages in advance and establishes a mechanism that can act if the person stops checking in for a defined period.
The concept itself isn’t new.
Long before digital services existed, people made arrangements for what should happen if they became unavailable. They left instructions, documents, emergency contacts, wills, letters, and other forms of contingency planning.
Digital technology simply makes it possible to create similar arrangements for information that exists online.
For someone who has important digital communications, documents, creative work, or personal information, that can be useful.
Why I Chose to Use It
My reason for using DeadSender is preparation rather than prediction.
I don’t know what the future will bring.
Nobody does.
People can become unexpectedly unavailable for countless reasons: accidents, hospitalization, travel problems, loss of access to accounts, technical failures, or other unforeseen circumstances.
Being prepared for an unlikely event does not mean believing that event is inevitable.
That’s an important distinction.
I use DeadSender for essentially the same reason I keep backups of important files.
I hope I never need the backup.
But if something happens to the original, I will be glad that it exists.
My Activism Is Part of the Context
I am also an activist and have participated in peaceful civic engagement and public advocacy.
Activism naturally involves expressing opinions, raising questions, discussing problems, and sometimes challenging ideas or practices that deserve scrutiny.
I believe these activities should remain peaceful and lawful.
I do not support violence or criminal activity, and I do not use activism as justification for harming other people.
At the same time, being publicly involved in activism has made me more conscious of the importance of documentation, digital security, privacy, and continuity of information.
That is one reason I take reasonable precautions.
This Is Not a Prediction
I want to make this particularly clear.
Using a dead-man’s switch does not mean that I believe somebody is going to harm me.
It does not constitute evidence that a particular person, organization, or institution intends to do anything to me.
It is not an accusation.
It is not a declaration that something is about to happen.
It is simply a contingency measure.
If nothing ever happens and I remain perfectly capable of communicating for the rest of my life, then I will have used a precaution that I never needed.
That’s perfectly fine with me.
The best emergency precaution is often the one you never have to use.
Why Digital Continuity Matters
A large part of modern life exists digitally.
Our correspondence is digital.
Our photographs are digital.
Our creative work is digital.
Our professional records can be digital.
Our contacts, documents, projects, and personal archives can all exist behind passwords and accounts.
If someone unexpectedly becomes unavailable, the people around them may not know where important information is stored or what should happen to it.
This is particularly relevant for independent artists, writers, activists, journalists, researchers, and anyone whose work exists primarily online.
For me, my music, writing, creative projects, and other digital records represent years of work.
I don’t want everything I’ve created to depend entirely on my continued ability to log into a computer every day.
Preparation Is Not Paranoia
There is sometimes a tendency to view contingency planning as excessive.
I don’t see it that way.
Backing up your computer doesn’t mean you expect the computer to fail tomorrow.
Having an emergency contact doesn’t mean you expect an emergency tomorrow.
Keeping copies of important documents doesn’t mean you expect to lose the originals.
Likewise, having a digital contingency mechanism doesn’t mean I expect to become unavailable.
It means that I prefer to be prepared.
There is a difference between being afraid of something and being prepared for something.
I choose preparation.
Protecting Important Information
There is also an important security consideration here.
Not every piece of personal information needs to be publicly available.
For that reason, I don’t intend to publish the specific contents of my contingency arrangements, the identities of recipients, authentication details, schedules, recovery information, or other sensitive technical information.
Publicly documenting that I have a precautionary system is one thing.
Publishing the information necessary to compromise that system would defeat the purpose.
Good security requires knowing what should remain private.
Evidence, Documentation and Accountability
Another reason I value contingency planning is that documentation matters.
If a serious situation ever occurs, accurate information can be extremely important.
Dates, communications, records, photographs, documents, account activity, and other evidence can help establish what actually happened.
That doesn’t mean every unexplained event should automatically be interpreted as deliberate wrongdoing.
It means that important evidence should be preserved rather than lost.
If I am ever unable to communicate for an extended period, I want important information to remain accessible to the people who legitimately need it.
That is the principle behind my use of DeadSender.
I Hope I Never Need It
There is nothing dramatic about that statement.
In fact, it is the opposite.
I hope that I never need my contingency arrangements.
I hope that I continue living my life, making music, writing, working, participating in civic life, and communicating normally for many years to come.
I hope that DeadSender remains nothing more than another precaution that was never needed.
But if an unexpected situation ever prevents me from communicating, I will be glad that I took reasonable steps beforehand.
I will personally be making sure that I log in every day and reset the timer.
A Simple Principle
My approach can be summarized quite simply:
Prepare for possibilities without pretending to know the future.
I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
Neither does anyone else.
What I can control is how responsibly I prepare today.
For me, DeadSender is one small part of that preparation.
It is not about fear.
It is not about making accusations.
It is not about predicting that something bad will happen.
It is about continuity, responsibility, and making sure that important information does not necessarily disappear simply because I become temporarily or unexpectedly unavailable.
I hope I never need it.
But I would rather have a precaution that I never use than need one that I never established.
— Dino
