I’d love to regularly change my passwords and such. But it’s nigh impossible to do. I think I’ve got accounts on over a hundred websites (forums, blogs, news websites, whatever).
Changing those would mean thinking of a new password system and changing those 100+ old passwords to adhere to said system.

Facebook login and such provide a solution for this, but creeps me out.

Having 1 master login account for every single thing you do online just removes the biggest hurdle for potential attackers: Piecing hundreds of different bits of information together to form 1 personality.

Maybe you could highlight that topic as well?

So the internet is now even on computers?

@ Zel:

Right now I have a blackberry and the password kicks in every time I holster it. It also kicks in after like 5-10 minutes of inactivity, or if I push the lock button on purpose.

The way I have it set up right now, I can place and receive calls when the phone is locked but texting, email and apps are locked. So a potential attacker could still browse through my phone book and call long distance but I could disable that too only allowing incoming calls. It was a pain though – for example, having to type in a password just to make a quick call while driving (with a bluetooth headset) was too inconvenient.

And yes – you are right, people are sort of aware of privacy issues but in most cases it is compartmentalized. For example, they know to make their Facebook private to keep stalkers and potential employers out of their business, but they usually don’t realize how seemingly innocent pieces of information can be connected to build a profile on them. For example, listing an email address or aim username on your public profile can be innocent but it can help someone to connect the seemingly anonymous twitter, four square and flicker accounts to you.

Also change your passwords regularly and try to avoid using the same word for every single account you own, stay away from easy guesses like birthdates, maiden names and so on. None of this should be news to your students. It’s not like the dangers of sharing private information should be unknown to them, it’s pretty often depicted in movie, TV shows, books and I’ve rarely met anyone who hasn’t had problems with it at some point, or doesn’t know someone who has.

Yet I see more and more private information on Facebook and Twitter pages of people I know. Amazon doesn’t let me to purchase something without saving my credit card information, which I have to delete manually after the transaction each time. Something’s wrong…

Most people I know have some sort of code or another to enter when the phone’s turned on, but since it’s usually always on I don’t see the point. I’ve never seen anyone password protect their phone. I assume you do, but when exactly does it kick in ? When you’re waking the phone from standby, trying to answer a call, access the internet, send login information ? Do you have to type a real password or just a 4 character numerical code ?