Tbilisi Have you ever wanted to talk to a loved one after they died? It used to be that only those calling themselves necromancers and mediums could claim to contact the dead, but soon digital versions of the deceased could be living just a few clicks away.

From South Korea to the US, tech start-ups are looking at ways to keep the dead alive in a digital afterlife that data experts say poses myriad legal and ethical questions the world is yet to properly address.

Technically, we can recreate anyone online given enough data, said Faheem Hussain, a clinical assistant professor at Arizona State Universitys School for the Future of Innovation in Society. That opens up a Pandoras box of ethical implications.

Most services only allow people to sign up to their own digital afterlife while they are still alive.But the lack of regulation on the issue leaves the door open for others with access to the data of the deceased to bring them back to life in virtual form raising concerns about privacy and consent, data experts say.

In most countries, the data of the deceased is not protected, said Edina Harbinja, a senior lecturer in media and privacy law at Birminghams Aston University.So, nothing in law would prevent the creation of an avatar or android that would resemble the dead.

That could happen without the consent of the deceased, and the data used could infringe on other peoples privacy if it includes, for example, conversations the person had with friends and others.

Virtual alter egos

From virtual reality (VR) to artificial intelligence (AI), advances in technology have spurred a series of initiatives offering different shades of virtual immortality in recent years.

In February, a South Korean broadcaster aired a tearful reunion between a mother and her deceased 7-year-old daughter who was recreated through VR as a digital avatar modeled on a child actor using photos and memories from her mother.

Other companies have been looking at social media as a source of information to create chatbots that could impersonate us after we are gone.

ETER9, a social network set up by Portuguese developer Henrique Jorge, pairs each user with an AI counterpart that learns to copy their online behaviour and can post comments and content on their behalf even after they are dead.

When a user decides to keep [their] counterpart active for eternity, [they] will have the extension of [them] alive forever, Jorge told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in e-mailed comments.Some years from now, your great-grandchildren will be able to talk with you even if they didnt have the chance to know you in person.

US-based Eternime offers a similar service, while Replika, a company in California, creates digital alter egos that users can talk to when in need of a confidant or companion.

Other start-ups such as SafeBeyond and GoneNotGone allow people to record videos and messages that will be dispatched to their loved ones after death, like letters from the grave marking birthdays or other life events.

Many questions, few answers

While some people might find comfort in the idea of living on digitally after they die, data experts warn that holes in data protection laws make it possible to virtually resurrect someone without their permission.

Wills can provide some guidelines if they contain directions on how to dispose of the deceaseds digital assets, but in some countries there is no guarantee these will be honoured, said Harbinja.

In Britain, for example, decisions around what to do with data is seen as personal wishes akin to preferring cremation rather than burial that can be overridden by executors and heirs and are not enforceable in court, she noted.

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The ethics of virtual immortality and an after-life online - Business Day