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Law in the Internet Society
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How Have I Enslaved Myself With Google's Passwords Manager-- By MotazArshied - 07 Oct 2019That Night Google Convinced Me to Register for this CoursePasswords manager was introduced to help generating and retrieving our passwords, usually by storing those passwords in an encrypted database. If you use Google Chrome's passwords manager, as I shamefully do, then the method your passwords are being saved by Chrome is depending on whether you want to store and use them across devices. Turns out that is exactly what I systematically did without understanding the potential repercussions. After arriving in Manhattan Island, and just before the beginning of fall term, I decided to purchase a my first ever MacBook. So I went on to visit that famous glass cubicle building near Lincoln Center and when I returned home with a heavy bag and a much lighter pocket, I started setting up my new device. One of the first actions I took was to install Google Chrome browser and log onto my Google account. after doing that, I prepared myself for the exhausting process of re-log onto all of my other accounts (social media, student account, governmental and professional services, financial and etc.). It is suffice to say that many of those accounts contain sensitive information, but Google went on anyway and automatically logged onto all of those, retrieving my passwords one after the other and entering all of my information instantly. The morning after I registered for this course.Explaining Password Manager"A password should contain at least one letter, one number, one special character..." and on and on it goes! We all been through it and it seems everyone created endless variations of personal passwords. Passwords manager seeks to put an end to this situation. It is a software relying on its users to store their credentials and sensitive information, to be retrieved later on when needed. Basically, it requires the user to remember one master password in order to decrypt the passwords manager database. The passwords manager stores full URLs next to the stored passwords and it does not log in automatically to those browsers, presumably out of creating another safety layer.The Risks I Have Entered Myself IntoAccording to my password manager, it contains password information of 68 different sites: 53 of these passwords are reused, 23 of these accounts are using weak passwords and there are no compromised passwords. What a shame. However, one might say that provided with this information a user can be reassured of his safety. I argue the opposite. Because of the master password idea of passwords manager, if the database is insecure, then all the "advantages" that comes with it are wasted and from what I have researched, Google's passwords manager is not secure. Untrue to their own claim that my passwords manager stores the info in Google's servers, Google Chrome stores my info in SQLite database file in the user profile directory. By my modest and amateur understanding, the SQLite database is a self-contained, server-less, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine and its code is in the public domain and is thus free for use for any purpose, commercial or private. Even a non-programmer lawyer like me can sense this isn't safe nor secure. Thus, any user to this database file can make modifications and access my personal data.My Fundamental & Constitutional Rights of Privacy and Property Could Be Easily ViolatedBRIEFLY: The Studies and Tests Performed on Google Passwords ManagerLegal Remedies?Reflecting Upon My Indifferent BehaviorSecond ThoughtsAwareness ResolutionsYou are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:
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