Why You Should Always Log Out

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to the library or a computer lab and found someone still logged into their user account. It used to make me angry. It used to make me wonder what was wrong with people. I don’t know if they just forget or just don’t care, but either way they deserve to be messed with for their stupidity. It took almost a year of my life to find these and to some degree I feel bad, but I’m pretty sure these people won’t ever forget to log out again.

This one is pretty intense and I questioned actually doing it for a solid 15 minutes, but in the end I had to do what I had to do. Plus, she sounds like a pretty annoying girl from the look of her course load so that helped ease my guilt.

I found this gem a week or so ago when I was going to a computer lab. Apparently this genius just bought something off Amazon and forgot to log off his user account. I delved a little deeper and found this guy also opted to save all his information, including his credit card and address. He needs to learn a lesson or two about the internet and security.

This was one of the first ones I found. The girl made a mistake I’ve seen time and time again: she forgot to log out of her e-mail account, so I did what I had to. I invaded her privacy. I looked at a couple past e-mails, then came across one from her dad sent a couple weeks earlier. I thought I’d write him a little note.

I was working on my final paper at the library late one night when I found this one. It was about 1 a.m. and I was only halfway through and couldn’t connect to the wireless so I kept aimlessly walking around to take breaks every 15 minutes. This guy was still logged into facebook. All those girls were the girls who most recently signed his now ex-girlfriend’s wall.

So treat this as a public service announcement. Watch out. Log off. I’m lurking.