Seeing the data would be pretty convincing. Could you please share the data that leads you believe that:
- Showing passwords in this fashion is consistent with most users' expectations about how their passwords can be accessed.
- Requiring authentication before showing passwords has the effect of encouraging people to leave their computers unlocked in a potentially hostile environment.
I think the data in question is more likely to be feature usage statistics of the sort that show that when a browser does has a master password option, something less than 2% of users set it, and half of those unset it after they realize they're going to be prompted for it over and over and over all day.
- Showing passwords in this fashion is consistent with most users' expectations about how their passwords can be accessed.
- Requiring authentication before showing passwords has the effect of encouraging people to leave their computers unlocked in a potentially hostile environment.