OT: Password sharing

[Christopher Browne]

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Tyler Aviss <tjaviss-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> A question. How many people here share your password at home. For
> example with your family and/or significant-other. Do you have a
> private login, or do you just let them at everything or use a shared
> account?
>
> Either way, what are your reasons?

Me, myself, and I, and no cat, have my passwords :-).

My tendancy has been to head towards:
 - ssh keys used where possible, so that I normally don't care about
password values
 - for the horde of web apps, I generate gibberish passwords that
nobody could ever
   remember, encrypting and distributing to hosts/laptops/mobile phone
so I can get at them.
 - Same strategy works for the passwords that are seldom used for
those Unixy things

The passwords aren't worth giving to anyone, in effect.

I think the best presentation of the dilemmas here were presented on Seinfeld.
http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheSecretCode2.htm

George decides he won't give his PIN # to his girlfriend:

Jerry and George are at the coffee shop.
Jerry: So why didn't you tell her the code?
George: No. No way.
Jerry: George, you're gonna marry this woman. Most likely.
George: It says very clearly, 'for your protection, do not give your
secret code to anyone.'
Jerry: So you're taking relationship advice from Chemical Bank now?

>From a technical perspective, I think there's a FINE argument to be
made in favour of George's position.  If you're sharing a bank account
with someone, you can both have cards controlled by your respective
PINs.  No need to share the PIN.

Of course, on TV, trouble and hilarity ensue from this choice.  Real
life is usually less witty.
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