How about playing the devils advocate. How many people here own homes without a security system or don't use that system every day? It can be a pain turning the system off and on every time you leave the house.
If you were in the physical security business and knew of all the violence that occurs in society you would think it's crazy to not own a security system and not use it every day.
Now put yourself in the shoes of a non technical person and you can see how convenience sometimes trumps security.
Sidenote: I love asking people in the computer security business about what kind of physical security system they use at home. Most don't use one.
The reasons these are not the least bit comparable are
a) Economies of scale - breaking into houses happens one at a time. Breaking into unsecured computer systems often lets you affect millions of people at once.
b) Jurisdiction - if a thief breaks into your house, he's local, and your cops can find and prosecute him. With computers, this is almost never true.
c) Personal Choice - You can choose whether or not to use an alarm in your home. When you use somebody's service, you have no choice over whether they use a level of security you agree with.
d) Personal Impact - When you choose to use an alarm in your home or not, that is a decision that affects -you-. When a service chooses to be insecure or not, that is a decision that affects -their customers-.
In short, they are nowhere near equivalent. If you want to make decisions for yourself on convenience vs security, that's cool, but don't equate that to a company making decisions on behalf of their customers.
I agree they are different. Not having a physical security system may lead to violence against your family. Far more serious than almost any plain text password.
You got a lot of time at work to right 4 points as to why you think my point is wrong ;)
This is not a good analogy -- a more apt comparison to a network admin not taking correct precautions with user data is a storage facility not activating it's security system every day. These organizations are dealing with other people's security, not just their own.
If you were in the physical security business and knew of all the violence that occurs in society you would think it's crazy to not own a security system and not use it every day.
Now put yourself in the shoes of a non technical person and you can see how convenience sometimes trumps security.
Sidenote: I love asking people in the computer security business about what kind of physical security system they use at home. Most don't use one.