Comment 15 for bug 189774

from a theoretical, scientific, cryptographical point of view it might be (and probably is) no problem to display the passwords without restriction once the keyring has been unlocked as anyone really interested can retrieve them anyways. not having to retype the password[1] dramatically lowers the amount of both knowledge and malice needed, however.

contra: having to retype the password might create the false illusion of a security and users might believe passwords are secure when they are not.

pro: on the other hand, it might stop your buddy from looking at all your passwords when you show him the wlan password he needs when your kids playing in the same room accidentally throw a basketball against your chair, a leg breaks, you fall down, spill your cup of coffee. now you go to the kitchen to clean up the mess, to the bathroom to clean up some more mess and change clothes. and then you remember: "damn! i forgot to lock the keyring..."

this user story is purely fictional. i don't even have kids :) but i think having to enter your password before displaying passwords in plain text (or not allowing that at all!!!!) would stop most opportunistic/accidental password leakage.

[1] the keyring manager in firefox uses this approach and i think is a sound approach...