A friend of mine was complaining that if they chose a weak password, it’s their choice, that they do so knowing that their information/account could be vulnerable to attack, that it was their risk to take, and that no system had a right to demand them to do a better job in securing their information/account.
Being a proponent of secure systems (even if I often fail at doing so myself), this comment got me thinking not so much because it opposite to my own position, but because it seemed to make sense. It’s stayed on my mind, nagging at me saying, is this really right? Then suddenly when I really should have been thinking about my term test tomorrow (for an encryption course, ironically enough), it hit me.
Unfortunately it is a limited application, but I think a valid one. You have a right to define how secure your own information is, even within another system. However, if by using this account, or anywhere else you might be using the same password (we all do this), you can view information of others (think friend’s locked posts here), then you you owe it to them to not be a liability. That information, which they may be treating more seriously then you do yours, should not be put in jeopardy by sharing it with you.
Of course, they should assume they cannot trust anyone, and as soon as they add a friend who can view their entry, that anyone can see it. But do we really want to live in that world? Where do you draw the line with trust, especially when you may not know what practices they have?
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