Spousal Privacy 5

As a long-time information technology worker, I’m very disciplined in creating passwords and cautious about who has access to my computer. I don’t like to take any chances so I always create strong passwords that would be extremely difficult to crack.

A key relationship issue came up recently after I installed Windows Vista on my home computer. Vista has some cool features that I wanted to take advantage of. Not the least of which is extensive support for multiple users. My suggestion was that Han and I could each have separate accounts. That way she can have her own settings and I can also save all of my passwords (for e-mail, Facebook, etc.) and not have to worry about anyone going in there.

A debate ensued about whether couples should have full access to each other’s computers and e-mail. I don’t personally like knowing that my significant other can view all of my e-mails, dating back several years. I talk to friends about personal issues via e-mail and I don’t have a lot of comfort knowing that my girlfriend can go back and look at conversations I had 3 years ago with my ex-girlfriend.

The problem is that she does most of her conversations with friends over the phone and not through e-mail, whereas I prefer chatting through e-mail rather than on the phone in general because of the convenience of answering the e-mail when you have free time.

I’d like to hear your opinion about whether you think a couple should be so open that they would share their e-mail accounts. Or do you think that couples should be allowed a little bit of privacy as long as they aren’t hiding things?