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Stories

Access for a week, not forever.

The situation

Sharing is easy. Un-sharing is not.

A spell in hospital, a long trip, a bad flu: bills still arrive, a business still runs, a landlord still wants an answer. Someone has to be able to act.

Sharing a login is a one-way door. Once it is said out loud, it is out; you cannot un-tell a password, only change it, and changing it later is a task you will not get around to.

A card is a better shape for temporary because it is an object. It can be handed over and handed back, and you can see whether you have it.

One arrangement

A card for the occasion.

  1. I

    Write a narrow vault

    Not your whole set. Only what this person needs this week: the utility account, the shop till, the pharmacy.

  2. II

    Hand over one card

    Give them the card in person. Give them the password separately, and only when they need it.

  3. III

    Take it back

    When it is over, take the card back and write it again with something else. The old vault is gone.

  4. IV

    Change what mattered

    For anything genuinely sensitive, change it afterwards anyway. That is true of every kind of sharing.

Lend the object,
not your memory.