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The Internet

42% of Web Users Sneak Onto Others' Online Accounts 313

Posted by samzenpus from the what-are-you-doing-there dept.
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."
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42% of Web Users Sneak Onto Others' Online Accounts More

42% of Web Users Sneak Onto Others' Online Accounts

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  • (no subject) (Score:5, Insightful)

    by woodchip ( 611770 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @09:54PM (#24684403)
    or "auto-saved" in their web browser.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I am the real woodchip and that dangerous hacker has stolen my password.

      I am going to call the cops.

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Wait... nevermind.

        I'm not going to call the cops anymore. I'm not entirely sure my livestock porn is legal in this state.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by TubeSteak ( 669689 )

      or "auto-saved" in their web browser.

      Yea, auto-forwarding someone's gmail is easy as pie.
      Gmail should require you to re-enter the account password before allowing an auto-forward address to be saved.

    • Re:(no subject) (Score:4, Informative)

      by Dan541 ( 1032000 ) on Thursday August 21, 2008 @05:24AM (#24687005) Homepage

      Don't forget to look under the keyboard.

  • Stolen AC's password... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @09:56PM (#24684425)

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

  • Heck, I'm "sneaking" on this account right now!

  • And it works, too (Score:5, Funny)

    by Das Modell ( 969371 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:01PM (#24684475)

    I'm actually the one who posted this story.

  • That's so true! (Score:5, Informative)

    by wwrmn ( 42399 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:02PM (#24684485)

    wwrmn molests kittens and has been known to punch puppies.

  • Sharing passwords (Score:5, Insightful)

    by geekgirlandrea ( 1148779 ) <andrea+slashdot@persephoneslair.org> on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:03PM (#24684491) Homepage
    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?

    • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:10PM (#24684557)

      As a little kid the first thing I did when I learned to program was write some code to ask for passwords.

      Apparently I've mellowed. I had a girlfriend who used the key I'd given her to invite herself in and look over my e-mail when I wasn't home. She got dumped. But now I'm thinking it's an excellent test. I have a couple of friends who volunteered to send a couple of... interesting messages as plants.

    • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:4, Funny)

      by HermDog ( 24570 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:16PM (#24684607)
      <quote>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?</quote>

      What are you? Some kind of mutant?

    • 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.

      Well, I have given out my bs password to friends, but I consider the "giving out of password" to be "permission to use it anyplace that I used said password at any time, without having to ask me." I'm not counting on their restraint other than their restraint to not give out passwords to others. If they do, I'll just change the password and not tell them the new one (since it only opens up stuff I don't care about anyway, it wouldn't be that big of a deal). The question is does that study count, "they di

      • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Eivind ( 15695 ) <eivindorama@gmail.com> on Thursday August 21, 2008 @02:57AM (#24686361) Homepage

        There's also the possibility that you actually trust someone. My wife knows the passwords for some of my stuff, simply out of convenience. It -does- happen that she needs some stuff (say pictures) from my laptop and I'm out. The home-partition is encrypted, she knows the password.

        I don't see the big deal. I didn't encrypt it to protect it from HER. I encrypted it so that stuff on there stays private even if say a burglar steals the laptop.

        Yeah, this means if she likes she can dig around in my firefox-history or whatever. So what ? I trust her. Certainly, it's possible that she'll betray that trust at some point. That's always a risk when trusting people. If that happens though, the privacy of my emails will be the least of my worries.

        "Lost my wife, and my gmail-password" -- somehow I don't think the gmail-password is going to be the biggest deal in that context.

    • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gregbot9000 ( 1293772 ) <mckinleg@csusb.edu> on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:24PM (#24684673) Journal
      Why not? I give out my passwords to crap like e-bay all the time, to friends who want to sell and to other sites that require membership. It's no big deal.

      Honestly, checking someones email is about as morally wrong as reading their diary. Sure it's incredibly rude if you get caught but hardly in the realm of some evil raping of personal space.

      • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:29PM (#24684719)
        Yes, but it leads to insecurity further down the road. For example, you give your girlfriend (yes I know most /.ers probably don't have one) your password to a social networking site either through an auto log-in browser, or by telling her it. Anyways, 3 months down the road you and your girlfriend break up, so, knowing your password she goes onto your social networking site account and vandalizes it with random crap and perhaps changes the password. Your reputation is ruined.

        • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:5, Insightful)

          by corbettw ( 214229 ) on Thursday August 21, 2008 @01:02AM (#24685673) Journal

          If your reputation is dependent on a social networking site, you have bigger problems than a vengeful ex.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Spatial ( 1235392 )
            Then many people have 'bigger problems'.

            Your reputation is dependent on every medium you communicate through. Lots of people have real-life relationships with friends and family mirrored on social networking sites. If someone gets your password and makes fake posts about you coming out as a paedophile, your reputation will be harmed.
        • Ala Facebook/Off? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvepYYNjfBk [youtube.com]
        • The parent poster probably tries to not do date jerks. And anyway, I think that if someone with who you had a relationship wants to hurt you, there are much more effective ways than deleting random photos on your flickr account. Usually, they will end up with the same friends as you, so they can ruin your reputation much more easily that way. Sharing or not your passwords for minor sites seem quite harmless compared to that.

        • Here's a ker-razy idea;

          How about changing the password before you dump her? Since it's the work of 30s or less.

          I went one step beyond that. I have an ex who still knows the password to my MSN account, but who assumed that I'd change it so thinks she doesn't. Ultimately, I couldn't care less if she hacks the account, it will be pretty painfully obvious.

      • Re:Sharing passwords (Score:4, Interesting)

        by EdIII ( 1114411 ) * on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:50PM (#24684895)

        but hardly in the realm of some evil raping of personal space

        According to YOU . I don't give my passwords out to anyone. I catch anyone using one of my accounts I will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

        You may not value your privacy, but it is a little bit arrogant and presumptive to assign the same value to everyone else's privacy.

      • If I caught you reading my hypothetical diary, I would inflict considerable bodily harm upon you.

      • Sure it's incredibly rude if you get caught but hardly in the realm of some evil raping of personal space.

        It is incredibly rude, not to mention unethical, even if you don't get caught. Your comment is rather telling about your own personal sense of ethics though since you seem to think it's not wrong unless someone catches you.

    • BOSCO

    • It's not unusual. I don't even know my password for most websites because I generate random >20 character passwords using keepass and store them on my flash drive on my keychain.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by blahplusplus ( 757119 )

      "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?"

      Yes, most people are ignorant and convenience trumps security.

  • "Without their knowledge..." (Score:4, Insightful)

    by msauve ( 701917 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:04PM (#24684495)
    is significantly different than "without their permission." One might be given account/password info for good cause, but the account holder may not be aware of every access. That would constitute "without their knowledge," but implies no impropriety.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by srjh ( 1316705 )

      It may not even be intentional. If I want to check my account on someone else's computer and get auto-logged in to their account, I'll just log them out first and not bother wasting their time by telling them (after changing their status to something mildly embarrassing, of course).

  • Did the folks conducting the survey really believe beforehand that "Educated Tech Readership" and "Band of Merry Thieves" were somehow mutually exclusive? "How could these people be capable of such things?! They use the Internet and read blogs, for goodness sake!"

  • Insane girlfriends (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Butisol ( 994224 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:08PM (#24684539)
    I knew this chick who got her boyfriend's password by looking over his shoulder. She used it well after their relationship ended, out of some mix of jealousy, spite, and hope that they'd be together again. She would make letters from other girls disappear, know when to make inconvenient calls/appearances, and whatever else it is that a manipulative, batshit insane, ex-girlfriend does. It was pretty funny. Point is, I suspect most breaches of passwords are of this sort of nature rather than really sensitive commercial stuff, so it's all lulz and it's all good.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      'I knew this chick' = I DID THIS!

      • 'I knew this chick' = I DID THIS!

        Get real, this is /., no female posts here. Except, um, me. And the woman earlier who claimed to be a lesbian. But other than us, everyone knows that there are no women on /.!

  • I'm the family support guy, and already had them all with shortcuts specifying https, but I just logged into each of their accounts and configured them to always use https (now the option is available).

  • girlfriends (Score:4, Insightful)

    by edalytical ( 671270 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:11PM (#24684563)
    My ex used to get mad because I absolutely refused to give her any of my passwords besides my WPA password. She didn't understand security at all. Later I found out she had been reading her boss' private email -- I"m glad I don't trust anyone. Always log out of public computers, never allow them to store private information. It's a good idea to clear private data or reset the browser on public computers as well. If you live with other people or have guest over you should password protect your computer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zonky ( 1153039 )
      surely if they live with you, they can gain physical access. So passwording is useless?

      • Physical access your local files, yes without a doubt. But your account passwords should be stored in some kind of encrypted file. So even if they remove your drive they'd still need a password to get your saved passwords.

        The computer password is really for not allowing someone to use your computer without your permission. Like sitting down at your computer and navigating to Facebook. Not for protecting physical access.

      • Re:girlfriends (Score:5, Insightful)

        by geekgirlandrea ( 1148779 ) <andrea+slashdot@persephoneslair.org> on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:51PM (#24684901) Homepage
        So put /home on an encrypted partition and pay attention to your system logs so you know if the machine got shut down while you were away. I think if you're living with a partner who is willing to physically mess with your machines just to read your e-mail, you have bigger problems than keeping your passwords safe anyway.

    • Always log out of public computers, never allow them to store private information.

      Um, lots of public computers are likely storing information about your access whether you "allow" it or not. No?

      • That's likely. I think the computers at my university will not store information across sessions. However, some public computers are not set up properly and will ask if you want to store your password or turn on autofill, etc. If you don't trust a computer don't use it, no amount of precautions or rules of thumb will help.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mxs ( 42717 )

      My ex used to get mad because I absolutely refused to give her any of my passwords besides my WPA password.

      Those people annoy. A lot.

      She didn't understand security at all. Later I found out she had been reading her boss' private email

      That kind of thing lands people in actual jail with actual bars.

      I"m glad I don't trust anyone.

      I have people I'd trust with every bit of credentials I have, yet I don't give it up to them either. There is simply no need. If it arises, I can reconsider -- or SIMPLY give them their own login.

      Always log out of public computers, never allow them to store private information. It's a good idea to clear private data or reset the browser on public computers as well.

      I don't consider public computers safe, at all. You have no idea what their security policies are, you have no idea who has been tampering with it, you have no idea whether there is a physical keylogger attached somewhere, you

  • Complete nonsense (Score:5, Insightful)

    by e2d2 ( 115622 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:15PM (#24684599)

    I'm calling bullshit on this one. 42%? yeah right. Maybe parents checking up on their kid's habits but even then I can't see almost _half_ of the world's internet users using another person's account.

    But that's the thing, the poll doesn't infer that it's all web users, just people that visit that website. The write up is incorrect.

    This is so lame I'm having a hard time not laughing. Is this the best we can get? How does this tripe pass the test to be posted on slashdot, and not in the idle section?

    • "How does this tripe pass the test to be posted on slashdot"

      Slashdot have a test?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by boarder8925 ( 714555 )

      How does this tripe pass the test to be posted on slashdot, and not in the idle section?

      But, but, but, Slashdot is one big idle section! People have been wasting their time here for ten years!

    • I would say only if those 42% use easy to guess passwords or are stupid enough to save the passwords in their web browsers and email programs. Then again if a majority of computer users aren't smart enough to use a hard to guess password and aren't paranoid enough to avoid saving passwords in web browsers and email programs, they deserve to have their significant others snooping around their web and email accounts.

    • Since 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything, wouldn't it also follow that 42% is the universal statistic?

  • Good payback (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:21PM (#24684647)
    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.

  • Bugmenot (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gringer ( 252588 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:24PM (#24684679)

    does bugmenot [bugmenot.com] count?

  • What were the survey questions? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dan B. ( 20610 ) <`slashdot' `at' `bryar.com.au'> on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:28PM (#24684715)

    Like all surveys that want to portray a 'shocking' result, it all comes down to the wording of the questions. It is very easy to get a respondent to tick yes on a question that asks "do you log in to other people's accounts" by first baiting them with a whole bunch of rubbish like "do you help others with their IT issues" and so on.

    Without the actual survey, the results are, in my opinion, just as good as made up.

  • Did it to nuke a MySpace account (Score:5, Funny)

    by AaronW ( 33736 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @10:56PM (#24684945) Homepage
    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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shag ( 3737 )

      I had to do it repeatedly on Friendster, since a group of friends (no doubt drawn together by their shared interest in being clueless) decided to repeatedly set up accounts using made-up local-parts in a domain I owned... and I had a catch-all on email.

      Being given the chance to modify someone's profile on a social networking site, and send any kind of messages to their friends, certainly is good exercise for the ol' creativity.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by thermian ( 1267986 )

      A student I failed on a course did that to me once, using my email address to set up a sale on ebay that they then screwed buyers over with, to try and cause me trouble.

      I didn't think to use password recovery, but I did send ebay an email detailing the account, and the fraud.

      No idea what happened after that, but the emails from 'customers' stopped.

  • How many of survey respondents were logged into someone else's account and answering that way to make them look bad?

  • Seriously, besides by local logins (and keepass password), all my other passwords are random hashes stored in keepass.

    Of course, I'm tied to keepass, but I figure since it's ported to all my systems up to and including my cell phone, I'm not too worried.

  • Ok, fess up. (Score:5, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @11:16PM (#24685069)
    Which one of you got hold of CmdrTaco's password and posted all these lame stories?
    • More like:

      who stole Taco's password and posted that one awesome story back in 2002?
      And why the hell haven't they done it since?

      I keed, I keed. Taco's a very good eidtor.

  • AC (Score:4, Funny)

    by Samah ( 729132 ) on Wednesday August 20, 2008 @11:41PM (#24685227)
    I wish people would stop using Anonymous Coward's account. He doesn't even have a password!

  • I cry "BS!" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Simonetta ( 207550 ) on Thursday August 21, 2008 @12:13AM (#24685453)

    I can't believe this. They say that 42% of the people that they asked had used another person's password or account. And the people asked are all internet users.

        It is a logical fault to assume from these two statements that 42% of all internet users have used another person's password or account for unethical purposes.

        What was the sample audience? Were they all students simply using each other's common passwords to peek into each other's love notes? The article gives that impression and then posts a headline that implies that 42% of ALL INTERNET USERS are dangerous highly-advanced techno-crackers who can and would empty your bank account at any time that they would choose.

        Another example of deliberate media exaggeration and fear-mongering over an activity that, when examined, turns out to be a whole lot of nothing. Is Fox News behind this? Or just some schmuck desperate for a story to file?

        Crying wolf destroys the perception of journalistic integrity for everyone.

  • Of those 42%, how many are aware that technically they could be prosecuted under various laws regarding hacking and system intrusion? They could go to jail. It's highly unlikely, of course, but if they get caught in the wrong situation by the wrong prosecutor, it could happen.

  • I have a question then (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rpillala ( 583965 ) on Thursday August 21, 2008 @05:45AM (#24687093)

    At my job, we have a secure database where each person has their own credentials to get in. As a troubleshooter for my work site, I have an administrative set of credentials that allows me to access everyone's records in case they run into problems that they want me to fix. The system logs changes to the records, so if they change something it tracks to them, and if I change something in their records it tracks to me.

    My administrative credentials are not under my control, i.e. I can't set my own password. The people at the next level up can do this, but I cannot.

    This seems wrong to me, but when I try and explain this to people they don't see the same issue that I do. Namely, a password is pointless if someone else knows it. Whatever my superiors can do with my login, they can just as well do with theirs. I've known them for a while and have no reason to suspect any malfeasance, but that's not how you design security.

    My sister is in a similar situation at her work where the IT department determines everyone's passwords. I was trying to convince her that this was less than ideal, and she just boggled at me. She works in politics and there's a lot of potential for spying from a rival party. If IT sets and can retrieve anyone's password (which they can in this instance), they could easily frame someone else for this kind of espionage by impersonating them. That's not to mention that if passwords are stored someplace on the system in an easily readable format, that's certainly a flaw in the security design.

    Maybe I'm alarmed over nothing, but I don't think so.

  • relationship issues? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sckeener ( 137243 ) on Thursday August 21, 2008 @09:25AM (#24688325)

    I think those numbers are high, but I can understand it if they aren't. They mirror the divorce rate numbers.

    Here's my tale of woe:

    I feel horrible. I broke my own morals during my divorce. My ex threatened to have a PI follow me and just having that possibility hanging over my head ate away at me. I can justify it, but it still wasn't right...I gained access to her emails just to see if she was spying on me...it sucked.

    All it did for me was make me feel worse about myself.

    To anyone thinking about doing the same, I strongly recommend not doing it. Even if it wasn't against the law, nothing good is going to come from it. It won't make breaking up easier.

    Over the years I've had many people come up to me and ask me how to do such things, I've always told them not to try....for one thing it isn't admissible in court and another it won't make you feel any better.

    I know...I've been there and done it...I regret it and wish I could undo it. Now I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life. A divorce is a major life event and emotions run high.

    My one advice for anyone going through a divorce is to not do anything that you will feel bad about years later and by that I mean don't break any moral codes that you would have had during the good years.

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