Slashdot Mirror
Teens Share Passwords As a Form of Intimacy
nonprofiteer writes "The New York Times claims that the hot new trend among teenagers in love is to share passwords to their email and Facebook accounts, as the ultimate form of trust. According to Pew, 33% of teens surveyed say they do this. One expert says the pressure to share passwords is akin to the pressure to have sex. Forbes says don't do it! 'There is something pure and romantic about the idea of sharing everything, and having no secrets from one another. But it's romantic the same way that Romeo and Juliet is romantic, in a tragic, horrible, everyone-is-miserable-and-dies-at-the-end kind of way.' Sam Biddle at Gizmodo writes about which passwords are okay to share (like Netflix), but says to stay away from handing over email or Facebook passwords. 'We all need whatever scraps of privacy we have left, and your email is just that.'"
Wait, it's okay to share your Netflix password...?
I can think of at least three reasons why that's a bad idea.
And vice versa. He's a number guy, I'm a language person. So his passwords are long strings of numbers, and mine are long strings of words and symbols.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Remember kiddies, using your ex-boyfriend's social networking password can be a felony!
Heck, even using your current boyfriend's passwords with his permission may be a felony in certain circumstances, especially if a financial transaction, medical-history-information, or intentional deception of anyone is involved.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Happened to a friend's family a year or two ago. The husband had control of all the accounts. All of them. So he was quietly siphoning funds from his wife's accounts to his own, without telling her, and then took off one day with over six hundred thousand dollars, leaving her with a thousand in her account with the mortgage payment due in a week. That was a very, very, very messy divorce.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Ayn Rand was right when she said that eventually, the people who are productive will abandon the masses who rely upon them. Only mistake she made was, it's the capitalists with their silly green tickets who are going to be abandoned.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
I gave all my passwords to my wife, and I have all hers. Neither of us demanded it; it just made sense.
But the spousal relationship is unique, ethically and legally. I wouldn't normally do that with any other person except as an exception, and I would change passwords afterwards.
Passwords are, it is said, like underwear.
http://www.umflint.edu/its/units/initiatives/publicity/password.htm
If you are willing to share your underwear with a partner, why not your password?
In my case, I was dating a woman who had been cheated on and had trust issues. I made sure she had access to my email and a tracking location on my phone. She says she never checked up on me, but I hope the gesture was appreciated.