"If you're reading this, I'm already dead" - modern version

There are websites that do delayed sends, but even if there weren't, it's a totally convincing IDEA. I wouldn't mention a specific site, just say that she has to log in every day (week, whatever) or the message will be sent.

Ofc the old fashioned way would be to lodge an envelope with a solicitor, and if you die, instructions are there on where to send it...

I see no reason why you could not still do this (I know a couple of solicitors who still have mysterious envelopes...I don't know who from, or who to, but I know they have them) I should imagine there is something similar online (smoe solicitors do everything online) ETA or lodge a usb stick?

I've seen this done in sci-fi stories, where a person had a special account "somewhere" - if they didn't log in every day, a data file or message would be sent. I see no reason why this wouldn't work for story purposes today, especially if you establish them as tech-savvy (someone who could create the necessary code themselves, assuming it doesn't exist already.)

Captcha said:

Is there some modern way to do this? Like, if she wrote it in an e-mail, is there some sort of 'delayed send' that she'd have to keep hitting, and if she didn't the message would go? Or some other technological way to make this work?

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You can schedule a blog post in advance, so if she's able to reschedule it every day, it won't post, but if she's unable to reschedule it, then it goes live.

Also, a few years ago, I saw an article about a webmail service that would send out a pre-written email if you didn't log in for more than a certain amount of time.

Something like that could be useful, no? Because then the email could be sent to everyone in her inbox.

In The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth sets it up so that if something happens to her (in which case she presumably will not be there to enter something), a video and story will upload to numerous places across the Internet in a way designed to make the information attract attention. She's a totally l33t haX0r, but it's not an unrealistic thing to set up in various, less-l33t ways.

Maybe I should find one of those sites.

They call it the dead man's switch, fyi. If you don't reply to the email after a certain amount of time from the website, they send off all of the emails you've preloaded to the site.

Captcha said:

Good ideas, guys - I like the blog post!

(Of course, as an author I know that there's a big difference between POSTING to a blog and actually getting anyone to READ the blog, but maybe I can figure something out, there...)

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This one doesn't work for me only because it's too public. A lot of people have blogs and do not share personal information, so it's plausible, but for me, it seems too easy to make a connection via hosting and log-in info. If you set this up as a person who regularly blogs and has a small audience, people aren't thinking about going on the run when they share info, and if super-secret secrets are a part of the character's life for more than five minutes, I have a hard time believing the character would be this public in general. Connections via emails, etc., would only take someone getting their hands on an everyday person's laptop/IP/carrier, or such. I think it's more believable if you have someone who's tech savvy and knows better routes to take.

This is all said from the POV of a random shlub who blogs, though, not someone tech savvy.

There are plenty of ways to do this. Pick one that fits the tech savvy level of your character.

One thing to keep in mind is she also needs a way to keep them from grabbing her and forcing her to tell them the specifics of the 'deadman switch' so they can't deactivate it later.

Yeah, they might not be totally certain she tells them the truth, but they might be willing to grab her, tortue her, and take the risk rather than continue to be blackmailed, etc. Most regular people aren't going to be very resistant to tortue.