If you think that
Facebook or email password of yours is safe in the hands of your friends, families, significant others, hermit crabs, etc. -- a recent poll on Internet Evolution suggests you may be naive.
In response to the question, "Have you ever logged into someone's email or social networking account without his or her knowledge?" here's what our sneaky readers said:
Sure. By a slim margin, the majority of nearly 300 readers who weighed in vow to never have committed such an act. But that still leaves a whopping 42 percent who readily admit to it -- and this is coming from an educated tech-readership, not a band of merry thieves (or so we thought...).
Well, so what. Maybe you just needed to see who your significant other was poking on Facebook. Or maybe you were just plain curious and bored with your own digital life. Besides, it's not like anything on the Internet is private anyway.
It seems clear that it's ethically wrong to sign into someone's account without permission (I'm certain our Internet Ethicist would concur) -- whether that person haphazardly left the password lying around on a Post-It, or entrusted it to you for some ungodly reason. But our poll suggests that, when it comes to matters of the Internet, sometimes ethics go out the window in favor of acts of ease that appear harmless.
But, you tell us: Is logging into someone else's account without permission always ethically wrong, or does it depend on the circumstance?
Regardless of your answer, you may want to consider changing that password.
Stupid is as stupid does. Writing down your password anywhere is stupid. Writing down your password on a Post-It is stupidest (I have no sympathy for numb nuts who do that); sharing your password is stoope-id. That’s an invitation for trouble like leaving your doors unlocked or your windows open or your purse/wallet out in the open. Using a personal name, pet name, phone number, street address, birth date in your password is stewpid, not using an alpha-numeric password is stoopit (I’m running out of ways expounding on “stupid”). Not only should you change that password, you should change it regularly and use a strong (alpha numeric & case sensitive where possible) password too.
We have all this security with computers and software, encryption, passwords for BIOS’s, HDDs, logon accounts for PCs, LAN accounts, web accounts, applications, Zip files etc…all made absolutely useless by loose lips, stupidity, carelessness and laziness. Memorize that password! Do not share it. Make it a phrase that you can easily remember like: 0Bama$0x3gg$! (Obama sucks eggs!).
The best thing will be to change one's password as often as possible. But we use to forget the lesson and we can be using the same password for years. For the sites that require to submit your email address and your password, I don't think that you have to submit your real password with that e-mail address.
Question? What should be the email accounts policy between spouses?
Absolutely, logging into someone else's account without permission is always ethically wrong, no matter what the circumstances are, period.
It's like going through someone else's stuff in their private draws or your friend's purse/wallet without telling her/him or reading someone's private letters or going through their phone sms inbox.. Of course, it's unethical to do so without that someone's knowledge.
I also want to add that I don't really like or trust the way some social networking sites ask new users, upon registeration, to submit their email address and password in order to have access to their email contact list and send out invitation to their friends to join up. They make it looks like it's part of the signing-up process and the "Skip" button's usually small and not easy to find. Of course, they'll say that they'll not disclose or store the info, but how much can we trust? Once you submit your password, it's already out there and vulnerable to attacks. I saw a lot of auto-generated invitations to sign up for some social networking sites that I received from many people I know who didn't think twice of submitting their email address and password. The best way is to just try to find that "Skip" button and never allow sites to access your email contact list for invitation and only invite your friends manually.
Also, yes I agree with Nicole, it's as easy as changing your account password every now and then to make sure your account and private info is safe. Having said that, I'd better go ahead and change my gmail password... haven't done that for a while :)
I believe that logging into someone else's account without permission is always ethically wrong without exceptions. But for those who dont value thier own personal space might be this is not different from what they expect.
I guess another survey is required to establish the fact that how many people thought(honestly) while giving away thier passwords that it will not be misused.
BBC news published a survey on 20th april,2004. It was amazing to see how easily people can give out thier information. The most intersting thing was More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found. It is an interesting report. Have a look here. But there are some people that really take thier passwords to grave.
Yes, unlike Run As and upgrading software, logging in as someone else to a web present site allows your views and opinions to take on a more global impact.
I have not personally done that, but I have seen the impact through my friends and some of the children in their family 'sharing' passwords amongst themselves and their own friends. Between simple 'Myspace' defacement and outright and blatant reading of anothers emails, there is a lot to be said about just keeping your password to yourself, oh, yeah, that and picking a random password, not something as simple as a birthday or kids name that anyone can figure out (password policy is another sore IT subject for personal and business everywhere).
It may seem amusing, but I've heard of simple jokes to marriage breakdowns as consequences of password sharing, it really is no joke. Also another reason to use theFirefox option of "Never for this site" in remembering passwords when you type them in. Store them in the one place inaccessible to hackers, your head .......... unless you're naive or a little easy to hack through social networking that is.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
We hope you can tune in for an IE Radio interview today with a true industry innovator, Jeff Jonas, chief scientist at IBM. We're talking to Jonas today at 3:00 p.m. ET. Do. Not. Miss. It.
Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s recent unveiling of its "magical" iPad may have fanboys counting the days until March, but if a recent poll on Internet Evolution is any indication, not everyone is buying into the hype.
We do a lot of grousing here on Internet Evolution, and usually for good reason, considering the amount of nonsense that keeps this industry afloat on its cloud of hot steamy air!!!! But... we can still happily acknowledge those titans who have succeeded in leading the way or paving new ground in their respective fields and, in turn, give credit when it is well deserved.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been working with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to look into the attacks on its Chinese servers.
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Data mining of social networks means people might face unforeseen consequences as a result of their seemingly innocuous personal choices and associations.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
More companies are trolling social networks to find and vet potential job candidates. Beware the pitfalls of blurring the line between personal and professional lives.
It is 20 years since the invention of the World Wide Web, and the Internet has changed beyond recognition since then. Steve Saunders peers into the future to predict what the Web will look like in another 20 years time – and he doesn’t like what he sees.
Some of the "cool" people are testing a new Web service: Blippy. It could be a great data source for corporations to glean info about customers’ credit card purchases. But it has all sorts of possible privacy and security problems. Buyer beware!
As enterprises leap into the Web 2.0 world of blogging, commenting, and social networking, just 'being there' won't deliver ROI. You may want a 'Web Evangelist' to systematically harvest the feedback in order to polish your product or service.
In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
Ray Kurzweil's Blio and Apple's iPad tablet will make it easier than ever to have books "read" to us, says Dr. Kim, who believes that talking tablets will become interwoven into our consciousness as we "merge" with the increasingly elegant machines we hold in our hands.
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Email This
TWEET THIS
