MS Passport: Does anyone here use?

[hlrguy]

This isn't a slam on MS, because even if this was being run by the DoD on BSD by Linus himself and a group of security PhDs, I would not use it. I am simply curious if anyone has signed up for this. The poll means it can be anonymous.

My feeling is, I do not want my personal data anywhere not under my complete control, and no matter how secure, there is a way to hack it.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=1&u=/ap/20030702/ap_on_hi_te/microsoft_hackers

hlrguy

Edit: It still amazes me that MS would take on the risk of such a project. I know that it gets lock in with MS software, but I feel the exposure is huge and if, for example, 1 million people have identity theft as a result of this, the liability outweighs the bennefit :edit

[sploo22]

My ISP is refusing to activate my e-mail account so I've been forced to use Hotmail for quite a while. I don't store any personal info other than my name on it, though.

[Icarus]

Yup, using it (forced to with Hotmail now)
It doesn't bother me one bit, the real problem with it is the people that trust to post their personal information into a public computer system. NEVER trust a computer to keep your info safe, don't even trust firewalls. If you must have this stuff someplace, a manilla folder in a drawer at home is the second best place for it (#1 is a safe)

I use Hotmail for my spam e-mail. If I have a remote feeling that I will get spam from using an email address (which is almost with anything) I use my Hotmail address, my personal emails are only listed via my website...and in 2 years I've only recieved 5 pieces of spam on those accounts. (because they are still publicly available but do require some digging)

[viperlin]

i have been forced to sign up as i use MSN's instant messaging network to talk to some of my friends, however much i dispise using thier network, there is no other instant messaging network that offers the features that the MSN one does.

of cource i use GAIM client instead of M$'s as i do not own a copy of windows.

[hlrguy]

I guess I should have put in the question that I use it AND have personal information, credit cards, etc. This is probably too broad because simply having a username/password saved somewhere for IM isn't what I was really wondering about. Basically, I was wondering if people trust it to store/supply the CC numbers, etc to make online purchasing easier.

hlrguy

Secure computing brings the same liability to mind. What is MS going to do when someone gets access and destroys all the master document keys so that 80 million people no longer have access to open their own documents. I honestly hope that kind of thing doesn't happen, but if it does, MS will be in a world of hurt regardless of their war chest.

[RWiggum]

Originally posted by mahdi
I use Hotmail for my spam e-mail. If I have a remote feeling that I will get spam from using an email address (which is almost with anything) I use my Hotmail address

That's exactly how I use Hotmail. I use it for all of my e-commerce purchase receipts. I started getting spam to it within hours of opening it (thank you M$), so I only allow my Safe List into my inbox. I now get about 60 spams a week, but it all goes to Junk mail and gets thrown away. However, because I don't trust Passport I don't have any identifiable info in the account. My name is only my initials, and the physical address and such are fake.

I also have a "watch" portfolio on MSN Money, just because it makes it easier to keep up with the day-to-day value of my stocks. I'm not too worried about that because it's only a list of stocks, not real financial info. If my Passport was hacked it's not like an intruder could actually affect my holdings.

[El_Cu_Guy]

I use passport for hotmail. It came with my MSN email account. I didn't really need it, but when I added my account to her new PC running XP with a 6 month free MSN service it came with. The only site that I use that I would benefit using it would be Monster.com. However, I've had that account before Passport was someone's wet dream so it'd be a pain to switch.

[Sepero]

I abuse, erm... use hotmail too.
I made my account before they started this whole dot-net stuff . Does this mean I've been drafted into passport? :rolleyes:

[psi42]

I have a passport because I had to email M$ "tech" support a few years ago because of a big problem I had with windoze update....:D (That was before I discovered the power of linux and refused to let windoze go online any more.) :)
It took me about an hour to finally get to the point where I could send an email.

Yeah, I've got a passport, but I never use it. I don't even remember my password...


The consultant, who identified himself as Victor Manuel Alvarez Castro of Mexico, wrote that he tried unsuccessfully to contact Microsoft "several times" by e-mail.

Why am I not suprised?

In May, a Pakistani computer researcher determined that by typing a specific Web address that included the phrase "emailpwdreset," he could seize any Passport account.

Oh, that's secure...

~psi42

[CMonster]

No. I don't. If I can avoid this nonsense forever I will -I would almost rather go back to how my life was before computers... as a matter of fact life before computers and cable TV was great -summers of endless fun -never bored and we could hear ourselves think... except on Saturday morning :)

[leonpmu]

to MS, I immediately stopped using my hotmail account, simply because all the speed, disappeared. Simply beuase the servers were *nix based and then changed to MS servers.

My wife still uses a hotmail account, but she gets the most amount of porn spam I have ever seen, and she only has about 10/20 people in her contact list!!!

Frightening, also I would NEVER put any info on an MS server, they wil sell it to the highest bidder without thinkning about it!!!