Passwords gone crazy!

When computers were new, and cyber security still an unknown term, people would often write their passwords on papers right at their desks. That's clearly a stupid thing to do, but I bring it up because people have had difficulty with passwords from the very beginning. Now, we have passwords for nearly everything we do online and offline. A personal pet peeve of mine is when I'm signing up on an inconsequential website and they ask for a password, then immediately reprimand me for not making it "secure" enough--only then do they mention requirements of two symbols, non-repeating letters, at least three numbers, capital and lower-case letters, and that it not be a dictionary word. Good grief! I'm not logging into Fort Knox, I'm just reading a news column. Sheesh.

All these passwords have created a new generation of writing the password on your desk ledger ... making one "secure" password and then incrementing each new one by a numerical digit. For instance, "1#dG(!832_d%" becomes "1#dG(!832_d%1" and "1#dG(!832_d%2" and "1#dG(!832_d%3". This creates the same problem, in that if someone gets your password, it's simple to gain access to everything else. There are special programs that will compile all your saved passwords and then enter them for you in a super secure way, and these applications are fabulous. Just don't lose your master password ... or post it on a desk note.

I've become less convinced of the need for passwords in many instances. Yes, anything we pay for should be protected, but why protect a simple new site that only wants to track my views? Leave it at a username and drop the password. If I order a pizza, then remember my address and give points for that, and not because I created an account which I forgot the password to. Places are obsessed with tracking user behavior (which I can understand), but this has caused a tidal wave of passwords and usernames. Oh, and don't forget to change your passwords now and then ... augh!

- M