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Comment by onmobiletemp | Hacker News Reader

I go to a good college in california. Im currently in the dining hall and the peraon across the table from me was using his laptop. He just walked away, presumably to get more food, leaving his open and unlocked laptop completely unattended. This is why there are still printers connected to the internet and why it wont change for a long time.

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This is really not the same problem. For the most part, the people who are going to fuck with your shit are pretty rare, so the chances that one of them will happen to be around and ready to pounce in a dining hall in a good college (and that no one else around will notice) are reasonably low.

Compare that with the internet where everyone is just as far away as anyone else, you can automate the malicious actions, and attribution is a pain.

They are the same though because most people have no idea there is even a difference. They are titally unaware. Would you or anyone else who knows anything honestly leave your laptop open and unattended?

cringe I used to do this so often. I've now set my laptop to ask for a password after 5s (on Macs it's really easy to turn off the screen with Ctrl+Shift+Power). And the disk encryption from Apple puts my mind at rest somewhat, even in busy coffee shops.

edit: I feel like in small startup offices not locking your computer is a subtle sign that you trust your team, but this might be just my weird interpretation

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