"Associated" designation on hero information page

If anyone was wondering what the "Associated" designation means on the hero's information page is, I found out by mistake.

In my case, I had someone log on for me while I was on vacation so as not to leave a "no one is home" sign out front of my domain :)

In doing so, the game the relationship between the players with the login and creates a PERMANENT"Associated" list on both the heroes' home pages.  This shows that there is some relationship between players for the rest of the game to see.  This was confirmed by the Devs, who explained that it exists to deter spying within alliances.   

The Devs have also confirmed that eventually a "Proxy" capability will be implemented to address what was my original problem, going on vacation and leaving the game unattended. However in the meantime, there is no fix so beware having someone else log into your account as you will forever be associated :D  

Will this association be wipped with the new alpha,or will stay there regardless?

My accounts and my wife's became associated during alpha 4 and still are in 5.