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submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by Ragdoll_X@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

~~Probably a boring answer but~~ I know my grandmother's credit card information. I live with and help take care of her, so she doesn't mind sharing it with me. Not like I'm planning to do anything nefarious, but I guess technically it could ruin her financially.

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[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 73 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I have a lot of relatives who look to me for tech support. I used to have them choose their own passwords, or tell them to change it if I set one for them (they never change it). Then, inevitably, I'd have to help them reset those passwords the very next time they need to log in on a new device, or their sessions expire.

I tried to set them up with password managers, and some picked it up (my siblings). Others quickly forgot their master password, meaning I then had to sort out recovering ALL their various accounts.

Once I literally used a known exploit to hack into an old android tablet that my youngest sibling managed to forget the screen-lock for.

Now I just shamelessly save a bunch of other people's passwords, pin-codes and other access details using my password manager, because they literally do not care. And it's straight up more secure than the post-it notes some of them would use if I let them. They know I do this, I've made it clear that if they want my help but won't follow my advice when I'm not there, making my life harder, further help comes with giving me unreasonable levels of access to their digital lives.

I've never misused it, and I never will. I take steps to be extra secure because I know I'm a single point of failure should my password database ever be breached somehow. But I could ruin dozens of lives.

[-] PlexSheep@feddit.de 9 points 11 months ago

Just in theory, could you be held accountable if they did something illegal and you have access to that stuff?

[-] folkrav@lemmy.ca 12 points 11 months ago

I'm not sure I see the scenario. If I gave you the key to my place then I murdered someone in it, are you accountable for any of it?

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

Here's a scenario: You have the password to my paypal account. The police arrest me for an unrelated public indecency charge after I urinate on the local government courthouse building. The account is then used to purchase illegal drugs from another country while I am in custody. Having no access to my account or the internet, I could not have made the purchase. The police learn of this purchase when customs detects a strong odor from a package and decide to inspect it, finding a massive hoard of marijuana and jenkem. the police are alerted and ask me, the account owner, who else has access to the account. Me, under duress and probably having shitty withdrawals, tell them everything i know about you, specifically things that might implicate you. As the only known person with access and having no alibi for the time period, you are then arrested for suspicion of involvement in an international crime ring. After searching your computer they find a VPN and TOR and then you are sequestered in a secret military prison and forced to do the chicken dance naked until you confess to every unsolved crime ever.

While this scenario might be far-fetched, hyperbolic and not really accountability per se, it is a plausible worry some people may have. Just playing devils advocate here.

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this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
125 points (91.9% liked)

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