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Child-Suitable Alternatives To Passwords?
An anonymous reader writes "Two months ago I donated my old PC to my little sister, who is 7 — I had promised she would get her own computer as soon as she can read and write properly. I then proceeded to answer her questions about how it works, as far as she inquired, and tried to let her make some choices when installing Debian (she can already use GNOME). As I explained password protection and encryption to her, I was pleasantly surprised when she insisted on protection measures being as strong as possible, so that no one else can screw with her computer. She knows that my younger brother has to endure strict parental control software that was installed on his machine without his consent. The significant problem is that she cannot permanently memorize abstract passwords, even if they are her own creation. I talked with a teacher who assured me that this is common at her age. My parents would probably be able to guess non-abstract passwords. What mechanism of identifying herself does the Slashdot crowd suggest?"
I guess picking the right pictures in a list in the proper order would be a good idea....I think I saw something like that posted on slashdot in the last year.
Please don't use "umm" or "err" or "erm".
Create a random key file on a USB key and set up linux to use the key file as the decryption key for the hard drive. That way, she won't have to remember a password.
So basically you want to subvert the ability of your parents' to exert their moral and legal responsibility to raise their daughter by allowing a 7 year old child, one who is not capable of something so requisite as remembering a significantly complex password? Your little sister has no business having unfettered access and control over her computer, and consequently, her online experience. You are irresponsible, probably due to considerably immaturity, and should refrain from interferring with your parents' raising their daughter.
Democrats and Republicans are like AIDS and Cancer, I want neither!
What parental control software IS there for Debian?
one of the main reasons I haven't switched to Linux is the (at least percieved) lack of parental control software...
I would say the majority of non-computer users have trouble remembering really strong passwords (ones that make use of a mixture of letters and numbers and punctuation marks). I find the solution is to rely on muscle memory.
Pick a column on the keyboard and press every key along that line. For example 4rfv. Now hold down the shift key and repeat it. $RFV. So the password is 4rfv$RFV which is relatively strong for most uses but is a snap and simple to remember.
The only caveat is that it's not a password that you can type while someone is watching but then...really nobody should be watching when you type any password. Although, pressing the shift key can be pretty subtle.
Other patterns like squares or crosses work as well.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
"...I was pleasantly surprised when she insisted on protection measures being as strong as possible, so that no one else can screw with her computer. She knows that my younger brother has to endure strict parental control software that was installed on his machine without his consent."
This has me a little baffled, but probably for lack of context. I'll assume that formal legal gaurdians or parents are the agents initiating the installation of the parental control software. If not, ignore the rest.
The concern seems to be that a 7 year old girl should be able to successfully thwart any attempt to protect her by the "screwing" of her computer in spite of what might be a legitimate act by those charged with her care to protect her as a child. If she were 18 (maybe even 16), that's one thing, but taking direct action to eliminate protective policies over a young child from someone who is clearly not the parent or guardian steps over a number of lines, both legal and ethical.
Whether or not you agree with "strict" policies that govern a child that is not your own, it just isn't your decision to make. The fact that it is a computer makes no relevant difference.
Maybe the conversation would more appropriately be with those that are liable and charged with her care rather than trying to subvert it.
Of course, I ran into the main problem with this the day my keyboard broke; I went and got a cheap replacement, plugged it in, and couldn't "play" my password properly.
Launchy.net changed my world.
Why shouldn't she? Are the 1s and 0s going to hop out of the computer and bludgeon her to death?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
All you need is the following.
A seporate USB Keyboard a numberpad extenstion can work
A Lathe.
A Wooden Dowle.
A wooden box or sheet metal.
A drill with a bit the same size as the dowel.
Ok take apart the USB Number Pad rewire it so all the keys are in a straight line.
Take the woden dowle on the lathe and cut impressions for all the keys.
Cut out different sections from the lathed dowle so when spun over they keyboard it presses the keys in a unique fassion. Put the modified keyboard in the box and drill a hole in it just above the keyboard for her to put the Dowle key in. and hook it up to the computer. And have her keep the key. That whay when it asks for a password she just needs to put the key in and turn it. And it will type the password.
This may sound a bit extream but the instructions are easer then say getting Ubentu to Run in Parallels.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Who said anything about the internet? He only said it's a box running Debian... it might not even have an ethernet cable attached to it. Maybe she just wants to keep her Carmen Sandiego games protected from everybody else.
I mentioned it in an earlier post that this is an age where children are learning about control and ownership - secret passwords to let people into their "fort", a lockbox for their "precious jewels" with a key that only they have... sibling rivalry can be a big deal, and kids need their space, whether it's a room or a computer.
And after they're 18, you don't get regular phone calls or visits, nor talks about their lives. You'll have denied them privacy for as long as it was legally possible for you to force that upon them, and the pendulum will swing back in full force, reacting to your actions with equal force in the opposite direction.
Maybe...until they have their own kids. But mostly that's crap. Children expect boundries...and they will keep pushing you until you establish some. Because, when there's no barriers, there's also nothing protecting you either. They may grouse at the time, but they will respect reasonable restrictions.
Boundries are the foundation that allows the now 16 year-old daughter to tell her boyfriend, "We can go in my room, but mom/dad will freak if I close the door."
I've got to wonder what this precocious 7 year-old wants to look at or do that she thinks is going to be foiled by her parents!
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
Bull shit. Children don't posses the ability to accurately reason. This is one reason why the age of consent is 18 in most places. Sure, some children mature faster then others and some think they have but it doesn't apply universally to them.
If you ask people 20 years after their teens, they will most likely say they didn't know as much as they thought they knew at that time. Most kids find a point in their teens when they think they know it all. Later they realize that if they knew what they know now, back then, they would have done quite a few things different.
It sounds like you can't make a definitive statement on your parents snooping either. IF you as you claim, didn't do anything wrong, how would you know that Dad was looking at your browsing history or cookies? He wouldn't tell you because you did nothing he objected to. He could have been reading your email and all and you just turned out to be a good kid regardless. Again, you wouldn't know unless you did something wrong that he felt like dealing with. And even then, he might have dealt with it in an unrelated way so you wouldn't put two and two together. After all, why expose the ways he found out about what you were doing that was "bad" and lose that ability in the future?
The primary role of a parent is to make you into the best person you can be and give you the opportunity to do this within their means. This might be subject to interpretation but it would require them to know something about you. Just because you couldn't catch them checking up on you doesn't mean they didn't from time to time.
Abuse is the one area a child does need help overstepping their parents. However, if the child is being abused, you should be going to the authorities or someone who can help with that. If the parents are looking out to protect her, which it sounds like that's maybe the case, then they should know what a 7 year old is doing. I noticed a point of if the computer isn't connected to the network then maybe there less need for protection but if there's no abuse and she's still under her parent's authority, what is the problem?
Yes, but does that mean she'll be smart enough to choose not to go meet that really cool girl that's friends with her online?
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
Actually, I'm not sure the sister exists. I think what we've got here is a 14 year old boy that wants to foil his parents for something super-secure for his own use, and the innocent little sister is a great tool to use...
I have two solutions if your little ones are paranoid about being spied on. Either give them a knoppix disk and a thumbdrive to keep all their important files with them at all times, or give them total control over their machine...
Like: http://www.achatz.nl/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=38
It might not be the best and fastest, but its damn good... Give it enough time, code, and wire, your girl could do most anything.... Build a chip for sd cards for storage... Figuring some way to connect to the world wide web.... It'll be like getting a UGO into the grand prix and winning... And in this case, less is more... You still need to spell, and the most of the memory included is in the users brain... Nothing like building your own machine to give a sense of accomplishment...
3 degrees of separation from Vladimir Putin