42% of Web Users Sneak Onto Others' Online Accounts

An anonymous reader writes "In an online survey, 42 percent of Internet users admitted to logging into other people's email and social networking accounts without their knowledge. The poll doesn't ask if passwords were found, granted, or stolen — which would make for further interesting results. The write-up summarizing the results defines the respondents as part of an "educated tech-readership" and questions the ethics of logging onto someone else's account, and whether those differ depending on the person and relationship."

Comments

Stolen AC's password...

[Anonymous Coward]

but it did take me some time so this is not Frist Post.

Re:Stolen AC's password...

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn it. And I worked so hard building up a solid reputation for honesty and rational thought.

And it works, too

[Das Modell]

I'm actually the one who posted this story.

Re:And it works, too

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha! Disregard that, I suck cocks.
-Das Modell

reference in case people think I'm trolling.

Re:Sharing passwords

[geekgirlandrea]

Yes. Stick to dating people who know how to use a packet sniffer. :)

Re:Sharing passwords

[HermDog]

It just seems bizarre to me how many people think it's normal to give out their password to family/friends/partners/whatever. I've never revealed a password to anyone in my life and never will, and my really important ones get changed regularly. Is that really so terribly unusual?

What are you? Some kind of mutant?

Good payback

[Anonymous Coward]

Had a girlfriend who turned out to be promiscuous. She used the same password for everything, or a very small variation. (1-2 characters)
I helped her out with her bills from time to time, and upon returning to Afghanistan (after a horrible R&R due to her promiscuity) I mass-messaged everyone on her Yahoo Messenger with a message that accurately portrayed her character resulting in some fun phone calls for her.
I believe that this was very ethical and appropriate for the relationship. The other option of over-drafting her checking account by paying her credit card would have been extreme.

Re:Sharing passwords

[ceoyoyo]

Yeah right. Just try finding one of those. Of the correct sex.

Re:Sharing passwords

[geekgirlandrea]

Well, I suppose I shouldn't be assuming which sex is the correct one for you, but from the implication of scarcity I'll go ahead and assume you're a straight male.

Anyway, we *do* exist. Including myself, I know of at least two women who know how to use a packet sniffer. Now, we're both gay, so that doesn't help you very much, but I'm sure there have to be straight geeky women out there.

Re:Only 42%?

[RuBLed]

I see, so the true Ultimate Question is "What is the % of web users who sneak onto other online accounts?"

Ha! take that Vogons..

Re:Sharing passwords

[Dragonslicer]

Now, we're both gay

<obligatory>Pics or it didn't happen!</obligatory>

Did it to nuke a MySpace account

[AaronW]

I once had to do this. Some idiot on MySpace set their account to use one of my email addresses. Repeated requests to Myspace went unanswered, so I just used the password recovery tool to change it and promptly deleted his account. Problem solved.

Ok, fess up.

[PPH]

Which one of you got hold of CmdrTaco's password and posted all these lame stories?

Re:Sharing passwords

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Confucius say "A gay girl with packet sniffer? Hmmm, something fishy here."

Re:Sharing passwords

[unitron]

Especially if you're a cunning linguist.