Child-Suitable Alternatives To Passwords?

An anonymous reader writes "Two months ago I donated my old PC to my little sister, who is 7 — I had promised she would get her own computer as soon as she can read and write properly. I then proceeded to answer her questions about how it works, as far as she inquired, and tried to let her make some choices when installing Debian (she can already use GNOME). As I explained password protection and encryption to her, I was pleasantly surprised when she insisted on protection measures being as strong as possible, so that no one else can screw with her computer. She knows that my younger brother has to endure strict parental control software that was installed on his machine without his consent. The significant problem is that she cannot permanently memorize abstract passwords, even if they are her own creation. I talked with a teacher who assured me that this is common at her age. My parents would probably be able to guess non-abstract passwords. What mechanism of identifying herself does the Slashdot crowd suggest?"

Re:Fingerprint?

[meringuoid]

A fingerprint seems like a reasonable idea. If she's just trying to keep other family members off of it, rubber-hose cryptanalysis is unlikely to become a problem

You were an only child, right?

Re:Strange quote...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don;t be so rough on the poster. I know when I was 7, I would have hated for my parents to find my porn collection.

Use a passphrase...

[Anonymous Coward]

...like, "My parents are responsible for me." Or, "I live under their roof, so I play by their rules." Or, "My brother is an asshat."

And yes, I'm a parent.

Re:Strange quote...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, to be fair, at 7 it was all child porn.

Re:Passphrase

[jdoff]

You are so grounded!

Dad

Re:Pictures

[pipatron]

This is to keep the parents out of the computer, not the other way around.

Re:To Deal With Size Limitations (Variant on Phras

[DamienRBlack]

Thanks for your password, I've taken the liberty of moving all the money for your bank accounts to mine.

RFID! Embedded! In Her skull!

[rueger]

Holy mother of God - what, besides WebKinz [webkinz.com] do you think your daughter is likely to be up to? And if your Linux box won't run that and Bild-a-Bear [buildabear.com] properly then she won't like it anyhow.

She's seven years old! Let her pick a password that's easy for her to recall. The important thing is that she's accustomed to passwords etc, not that she understands cryptographic science.

Re:Strange quote...

[SoupGuru]

I hope this guy's parents don't read slashdot otherwise he's going to get a well deserved smack upside the head for trying to lock them out of his sister's computer.

Re:passphrase

[smitty97]

g%jP22094jmqqlDMSk

Hey! That the combination on my luggage!

Re:biometrics

[Wandering Wombat]

Shear fact? This is a password for a computer, not a pair of scissors...

Oh, I get it! Your spelling mistakes are a form of security! If you don't have the exact right level of literacy, your computer won't let you post. Ho ho, very clever!

Child-Suitable Alternative To Car Keys?

[Shuh]

I have a seven-year-old child who needs to drive around town in a car, but has problems getting the keys. Is there anyone on Slashdot who has suggestions on how to open, start, and operate a car without keys and otherwise make it so easy even a seven-year-old can do it? Thanks! Signed, A Responsible Human Being

Re:To Deal With Size Limitations (Variant on Phras

[Thuktun]

"provides a simple solution we ordinarily remember? done!"

Re:Fingerprint?

[mcpkaaos]

Fingerprint + Children = bad combo.

Especially when considering the Finger Paint and Booger factors.

Re:Strange quote...

[Glonoinha]

I can just see the little seven year old explaining to her parents ...

It's not about trust. It's about accountability. See, I trust you guys, but lets face it - sometimes things happen and we all want to be able to have every person be accountable for their actions. So I'm just going to lock this bad boy down with a digital key long enough to choke a horse.

Re:Pictures

[j_166]

I think you're going about this the wrong way. All you need to do is rig the computer with a kilo of C4 so that when any key on the keyboard is pressed, it explodes, taking anything the child may have wanted to keep private with it.

The child of course uses a 2nd wireless keyboard to access the box. That one is coated with Iocane, a powerful neurotoxin which the child has spent the last several years ingesting in small quantities to build up a sufficient immunity.

Re:That's a terrible password

[kat_skan]

Hey, it was good enough to prevent you from replying using his account, at least.

Re:To Deal With Size Limitations (Variant on Phras

[hcmtnbiker]

Why use 'password' when you can just use '12345' coincidentally that's the same combination i have on my luggage.

Re:Fingerprint Reader?

[Mr. Jaggers]

So, the first time that happens, you walk over with her, and retrain it for her thumb. BIG DEAL. Until she cuts her thumb, then you help her train it for the other thumb, etc.

If you have a fingerless daughter, train it to her toes (and retrain as above, when Strawberry Shortcake makes her rounds amongst the little piggies).

If you have a fingerless, toeless daughter who wants to use the computer anyway, for fucks sake, memorize her password for her, you heartless clod!

Re:Pictures

[hobbit]

Yeah, but to get "r00t" on your ZX81, all you had to do was switch it on...

Re:cat's in the cradle

[cadeon]

Bull shit. Children don't posses the ability to accurately reason.

You're limiting that statement to just children?

Re:Strange quote...

[n1k0lai]

Never give parents a root password, they're noobs!

Re:cat's in the cradle

[cHiphead]

i told my 5 year old my battlenet password on warcraft 3 just to test the waters, the next day, I walk into the computer room and he's on bnet playing tower defense maps. That passwd is now changed b/c he will try to login with it (even when my machine is locked he will try that one).

W.T.F.

Kids can remember passwords, maybe not strong passwords, but words and letters are easy enough. I've seen it first hand.