As I said, it wasn't handled well. I don't think we should be building backdoors into secruity systems. I also don't think my friend explicitly requested the fu

As I said, it wasn't handled well. I don't think we should be building backdoors into secruity systems. I also don't think my friend explicitly requested the functionality or would have understood the ramifications even if he did. Bitlocker is, apparently, enabled-by-default on consumer machines that, I'd argue, don't suffer from a threat model that necessitate its use. There is a huge problem with technical and legal constructs associated with the rights to accounts and data after death. I don't have the answers for everybody. I've done what I can for myself and my immediate family. The "I've lost my mind and undermine efforts I made, while still in my right mind, for successors-in-right to access my data" is one that I'm not sure how to defend against, and one that scares the willies out of me. I can document my last wishes but if I, in a fit or paranoia, change keys / passwords / remove recovery mechanisms, then those last wishes might be irrelevant.