They can also be found on machines designed for personal use, like treadmills and speedboats. A common form on some devices is a key tether, which pulls the key out of the ignition if the user falls off or slumps back, cutting the power.
You may also hear a dead man's switch referred to as a kill switch, dead man's handle, dead man's brake, or dead man's control. In the case of a machine that is used to transport large amounts of people or cargo, the switch is commonly linked with a data recorder, so that in the event of an accident, investigators can determine whether or not the safety feature worked as it should have.
One unexpected bonus of the dead man's switch is that it can make machinery very difficult to steal, except by experienced operators. Such switches are often subtle or confusing to use for people who have not been trained on a particular machine and, as a result, thieves may find it difficult or impossible to start the machine to steal it.
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a InfoBloom researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors. Mary McMahon.
Please enter the following code:. Sounds ominous and intriguing at the same time. And yes, it does have something to do with a dead man. We are mere mortals. And unfortunately, we do come with an expiry date. Now before you decide to move on to a happier topic, we think you will find this one quite fascinating. Especially if you are a crypto hodler. Because as with all things that we accumulate in life, we need to think about what we will do with our crypto when we are no longer around to enjoy it.
In the physical world, those who work with machines are probably already familiar with this term. It refers to a switch that is triggered when its human operator becomes incapacitated for whatever reason. It could be death, loss of consciousness, etc. This fail-safe switch prevents the machine from continuing to operate in an unsafe manner and potentially causing harm.
It addresses a very real problem that exists. You see, whether you have thought about it or not, these are questions that need to be considered: What will happen to your crypto when you die? How can you ensure that your loved ones will inherit them? Unless you want your crypto to stay locked up forever, you need to plan ahead. Just as we keep cash or cards in a physical wallet, we store our crypto in a digital wallet.
A digital wallet allows you to not only make transactions with your digital currencies but is also a place where you store your public and private keys. The public key is used to generate your public address, so that someone wanting to send you crypto will know where to send it to. It can be likened to a bank account number.
A private key, however, is like the PIN number to the account. It is known only to the user, and serves as his personal digital ID. With it, he can access his funds, and spend, withdraw, or carry out any other transaction for his account. Unlike a simple pin though, the key is made up of a bit long string of alphanumeric characters.
The private key is what you need to guard with your life, because it grants access to the crypto stored at a given address. It is needed for both authentication and encryption. Revealing it to others is like handing over control of your crypto. Because you are the only one who holds that private key, you alone are responsible for keeping that information safe. Once it is lost, there is no way of recovering it. Your crypto will be locked up forever.
But now, what happens if you should suddenly become incapacitated or die? How could you make sure that your keys will be passed on to your loved ones? Ideally, we could keep a record of our private keys in our will, so that at death, our beneficiaries will inherit our crypto.
But that would require that we put our trust in a, perhaps not so trustworthy, third-party like a lawyer. In some ways, this defeats the purpose of owning crypto. Crypto allows us a measure of anonymity, security , and is trustless. While using a lawyer is not necessarily a bad thing, there are some things to consider.
If our will is stored in a database at a law firm, it might also be accessible to other lawyers, who could potentially steal the information. Or the database might be hacked and the information was stolen that way.
And in some jurisdictions, our will can become public record. Once the keys are stolen, the individual could spend the digital currency. Because of the immutable nature of crypto assets, those funds could never be recovered because the transactions cannot be reversed.
The important thing to remember is to always keep your private keys, private. You might be thinking that the amount of crypto you actually have is relatively small, compared to the rest of your estate. But having some way to pass your crypto assets on to your beneficiaries is still something worth looking into.
The potential exists for even a small amount of your digital assets to be worth a lot more when prices rise in the future. Essentially, they work on the same basic premise. A switch is triggered in the event of a user becoming incapacitated or dying.
Once the switch is triggered, a message is sent to the recipients. The message may contain instructions on how to access the private keys, passwords or seed phrases, or some other secret. How does the switch determine that the user has passed away? Perhaps this is once a week. Or even once a year, on his birthday. This will confirm that the user is still alive.
When the user fails to check-in, it is then assumed that the user has passed away. A smart contract will then execute. And the secret will be automatically transferred to the recipients. The use of a smart contract is advantageous because it ensures that the assets will be transferred to the beneficiaries without hindrance. An example of a switch that is currently in development is on the Lightning network.
The app is called FinalMessage.
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