Shoutout to the old library computers that made me think about passwords

I was at the main branch of the public library yesterday and saw the old sign-up sheet for the 30-minute internet terminals, just a clipboard with a pen on a string. It hit me how we used to just walk up and use a shared machine without a second thought. Now I'd be paranoid about keyloggers on a public PC, but back then, the biggest worry was someone seeing your AOL screen name. When's the last time you had to use a truly public computer, and what precautions do you take?

3 comments

3 Comments

milesj701mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, I was just reading an article about how those old library setups were a total security nightmare by today's standards. It pointed out they never really got wiped clean, so your email login or whatever was just sitting there in the cache for the next person. The last time I used one was probably at an airport kiosk to print a boarding pass a few years back, and I felt so exposed just typing in my confirmation number. I definitely wouldn't log into anything real on a machine like that now.

violatorres1mo ago

My old community college library had those same sticky keyboards. It's wild how we just accepted that as normal for so long. Now I get nervous using a gas station card reader.

haydenbutler1mo agoTop Commenter

Read a piece about how those old keyboards were basically germ farms, totally agree with @milesj70 about the security risk being huge too.