Passwords, Fresh Fish and Old Ways

Why generate these more complex, longer passwords?  And why change them often? 

I learned that "passwords are like fresh fish, the longer they hang around they become a stinky mess".... 
        And 
"Passwords: longer is stronger" (excuse the sexual innuendo.)
            I've para-phrased from  internet posters I saw somewhere.

I am the most non-techy of the group here at StoneGrove. I like things simpler and easier to remember, (especially after I passed the half-century mark in the birthday count.) As my life became more and more dependent on knowing little words, clues and special spellings to do my normal chores such as banking, communicating with family, and even coupons for my grocery shopping, I was becoming more and more forgetful. So, I wrote all these special words and clues and special spellings down. OH My!

Now that I think back, writing down passwords was probably not the brightest of ideas. Yet how could I keep up? I was smart enough to know that I should not  leave them laying around on post it notes.  Instead, I wrote them all down in a file on my computer, and printed them out occasionally so my spouse unit could have them in an emergency. Which brings up two thought right away. First ... that a large printed paper lost somewhere between my files and his office  is worse than a post it note. And second..... what type of emergency would it be that he would need the password for grocery coupons?

I also knew not share them with strangers. This was much the same  as the instructions I was giving my young grandson concerning talking to new people in the park. But just as the 4 year old asked, " who is a stranger?". I had no idea there were "bad people " out there who really did want my password, and that I should keep it safe. I was not taking the threat too seriously.

At my places of employment over the years, I was always very careful, but not so much at home. There is probably some psychology behind this behavior that I should talk over with a therapist concerning self-esteem issues but I was in denial. I just believed that I would always be able to get to my accounts, and only "friendlies " had access too.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I would go back and forth between only two passwords on my work account though.  These I did not write down. (Again probably thinking that company info would be more important then my own personal accounts somewhere in the back of my mind.) These two passwords were not so special that someone who knew me could not guess them though. My thinking was two was the correct number of words I could keep in my brain over a long period of time. I graduated to three at one point in my career, but then forgot which one was current and spent a long time logging in each day. Especially after a vacation...but I digress.

Well, time for a life lesson. You can see where this is going.  We have had a few close close calls in the past, but our bank or credit card company would catch it and contact us. Actually my big wake- up call was my security-minded spouse's illness. He had very long, intricate passwords, none the same and not written down for little-old-me to access.  So with him laying in the hospital, I was to contact people who needed to know. How to access his email? How to locate his contact list? How to look up info concerning health insurance plan through his employer? He had all that, and I had never asked for it. I was used to paper that I could have at my fingertips whenever I needed the info. Files and files of papers in that old filing cabinet in the corner. Welcome to the new cyber-world. (This is what my farming ancestors must have felt like when indoor plumbing, telephones, and automobiles came into common usage. Life had changed around them, and they had to catch up.)

Luckily, the hubby was able to walk me through it all  and by the end of the week he was back at home in his sick bed with his laptop. I was off the hook, but shaken. I noticed he used a password vault to keep his special words all organized.

I was ready to learn a new piece of software. He gladly set it all up for me. There are many of these password software vaults out there....some of them free.

Done. How easy I thought...and then the headaches began. My smart phone had trouble signing me in to my email and I did not know my password anymore. The software had generated a random, stronger password for for my use, and I did not know it. I was suppose to be able to quickly retrieve it, but I was not paying attention to that part of the lesson. I could not check email for a day, and then my text messages also stopped working . My phone was rebelling. (I was cut off from my family and the world, even though I was only a few blocks away and at work surrounded by people and phones.) I did not even know hubby's phone number for his new cell phone yet. It was in my contacts list on my phone, but I could not reach that info either!

Round two. Another lesson at home after work. (This time I paid attention.) "Why can't I just leave it off my phone? and only use it for my laptop? I asked at one point getting frustrated with this whole thing. I learned that is like leaving my home with the front door locked but the back door standing wide open.

I struggle a bit being of a certain age and learning a new skill. But I can report that currently my passwords are safe and I have leaned how to find the password, or generate a new one as needed.  I have heard horror stories of identity theft from folks who I know personally, or credit cards suddenly being hit with unknown charges. I feel with my super security minded spouse on alert, I have a better chance than most to be protected. (And that with my new skills, I am not the weakest link.)

Who Owns Your Cyber-Life After You Have Physically Left This Earth?

So, I had a quick discussion with patrons as I worked the Customer Service desk a few days ago.

 They had heard about this mother who was taking Facebook to court over the question of  profile ownership. At first , I thought that this was a simple black and white question, but then as more details came out in this discussion, I was pulled into that awful gray zone where there is no definitive answer in my mind.

I know that work emails we create belong to the the company. It is our communication but it is archived and the ownership is theirs. I get that. It was a surprise as a non-techy person to learn this. Email is not like the postal service (snail mail). It is not private.

So I thought that this case the mother trying to get ownership of her dead son's profile was simply the same idea. But wait! We now have so much of our lives online that once we are gone most of our thoughts and details are still out there forever! So.....? Should our loved ones be able to collect and control these details?

Isn't that what our estate being passed down generation to generation is all about?

Do we need to be adding this detail in our wills? What to do with our Twitter account or Facebook profile or my many many Pinterest pins? Much like my old diaries and genealogical files I have from my great grandmother. My thoughts may be of interest to someone at some point historically.

I can imagine how my children would roll their eyes at this suggestion, but I believe that they may indeed be seeing this in my will. The clan gathered around in the lawyers office at the reading of the will, and Heather will get my Pinterest account and Kent will have control of my Facebook.