[JOAT]

U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.

This statement is quite revealing. The FBI can evidently access any password, anytime and connect it with a specific individual and question them about it. Since passwords are presumed to be encrypted 'secrets' that's pretty eye-opening, ain't it?

[Alas Babylon!]

No the password is nothing unless associated with an account. I'd assume they meant an account with the password.

[Lester Moore]

U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.

This statement is quite revealing. The FBI can evidently access any password, anytime and connect it with a specific individual and question them about it. Since passwords are presumed to be encrypted 'secrets' that's pretty eye-opening, ain't it?

NOTHING! Is really secret on any computer. Everything you enter, including passwords, and do on any computer can be recorded, mirrored and played back to your chagrin later on. Passwords only protect users from other users (provided the user protects their password). Sysadmin types, on all kinds of operating systems, are little gods.

[piasa]

Not neccessarily- though I wouldn't be shocked if they did. The gov acquired the password and most probably the username from Moussaoui, and Moussaoui attended a school in what was it, Minnesota? It's easy enough to check the school's website and see if said password and username opened any individual's files on the school's network. And once it did, it was obvious it wasn't Moussaoui's account, but Berg's. Not to mention that Moussaoui certainly knew whose password it was, and the info could have been drawn directly from him.