From Wired News, June 5, 2002, comes this inspiring story, "Dead Men Tell No Passwords", by Michelle Delio:

The man in charge of archiving and maintaining electronic copies of Norway's most important historical documents is dead and so is access to those archives. 

So the director of the Norwegian cultural center is pleading for
hackers to help him crack the center's password-protected database.

The story goes on to relate how some hackers use a program by Aryeh Holzer called "Dead Man's Switch." If the program is not reset at scheduled intervals, it will encrypt or delete files, and inform your family and friends by e-mail and other computer communications that you are gone. One individual noted that he had gone on vacation, forgotton about the switch, and found himself to be "dead" and his "adult entertainment files" deleted.