Dear Internet
This is a genuine and hear-felt request so listen up. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE stop trying to remember my passwords. Believe it or not, the point of a password is to restrict access to certain areas or information. Saving a password rather negates the point. This is particularly frustrating when I go to some (small) effort thinking up passwords which are seemingly random yet still memorable.
Let me illustrate some of the issues that can potentially arise from saved passwords. First are the minor little niggles. You know, the "funny" facebook statuses posted on your behalf by friends. Not to mention the "friending" of people you don't like. There is also the issue of one's personal email being visible which is a bit awkward if someone has sent you something they don't wish to become public. And again there is the issue of others sending "hilarious" emails purporting to be from me. Finally, people could access this very blog and edit existing posts, put up new ones and generally be a bit of a pest. Apart from the issue of confidentiality of correspondents, the above examples are more irritating than bad. On a good day, some can even be rather funny but that's not really the point. Just because a ghostwritten facebook status can be amusing doesn't mean we want one.
Now let's move up a gear to moderately severe consequences. These usually happen ins the realm of internet shopping. I don't really want an inflatable girlfriend (with realistic moving parts) from ebay. Nor do I particularly want an ice cube tray that makes ice in the shape of willies. Both of these are possible if a password is saved on internet shopping sites. Worst of all, someone could endeavour to purchase fifty shades of grey on my behalf!
Finally there is the really serious stuff. The internet banking, service contracts such as phones and internet and other such areas where both personal details (of consequence) and significant amounts of money are at risk.
Now I trust my friends (well apart from the realms of practical jokes) so you could argue that it shouldn't matter that passwords are saved on my personal computer however, as regards to the internet banking etc, that just doesn't work. I wouldn't tell them my ATM PIN, why would I therefore bypass my internet banking password. Now what about shared computers; internet cafes, office workstations and the like? Now obviously leaving them unattended isn't a great idea and they do generally log out after a relatively short period of inactivity so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. But are you seriously telling me I should log out to go to the loo in the office? Really? And wouldn't the IT department have some bypass password anyway, not to mention a fairly detailed internet history. Why should I distrust the IT department? Well I don't, they certainly get the benefit of the doubt but again, would you tell them your bank PIN? I wouldn't, therefore why should they have access to all my personal areas on the internet.
In conclusion internet, I know this may not be the most coherent of logic but that doesn't really make much difference. The message is still this, please don't try and save our passwords. If there is a password for the site then chances are it's there for a reason not just to irritate us.
Yours sincerely
JR
This is a genuine and hear-felt request so listen up. Please, please, please, please, PLEASE stop trying to remember my passwords. Believe it or not, the point of a password is to restrict access to certain areas or information. Saving a password rather negates the point. This is particularly frustrating when I go to some (small) effort thinking up passwords which are seemingly random yet still memorable.
Let me illustrate some of the issues that can potentially arise from saved passwords. First are the minor little niggles. You know, the "funny" facebook statuses posted on your behalf by friends. Not to mention the "friending" of people you don't like. There is also the issue of one's personal email being visible which is a bit awkward if someone has sent you something they don't wish to become public. And again there is the issue of others sending "hilarious" emails purporting to be from me. Finally, people could access this very blog and edit existing posts, put up new ones and generally be a bit of a pest. Apart from the issue of confidentiality of correspondents, the above examples are more irritating than bad. On a good day, some can even be rather funny but that's not really the point. Just because a ghostwritten facebook status can be amusing doesn't mean we want one.
Now let's move up a gear to moderately severe consequences. These usually happen ins the realm of internet shopping. I don't really want an inflatable girlfriend (with realistic moving parts) from ebay. Nor do I particularly want an ice cube tray that makes ice in the shape of willies. Both of these are possible if a password is saved on internet shopping sites. Worst of all, someone could endeavour to purchase fifty shades of grey on my behalf!
Finally there is the really serious stuff. The internet banking, service contracts such as phones and internet and other such areas where both personal details (of consequence) and significant amounts of money are at risk.
Now I trust my friends (well apart from the realms of practical jokes) so you could argue that it shouldn't matter that passwords are saved on my personal computer however, as regards to the internet banking etc, that just doesn't work. I wouldn't tell them my ATM PIN, why would I therefore bypass my internet banking password. Now what about shared computers; internet cafes, office workstations and the like? Now obviously leaving them unattended isn't a great idea and they do generally log out after a relatively short period of inactivity so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. But are you seriously telling me I should log out to go to the loo in the office? Really? And wouldn't the IT department have some bypass password anyway, not to mention a fairly detailed internet history. Why should I distrust the IT department? Well I don't, they certainly get the benefit of the doubt but again, would you tell them your bank PIN? I wouldn't, therefore why should they have access to all my personal areas on the internet.
In conclusion internet, I know this may not be the most coherent of logic but that doesn't really make much difference. The message is still this, please don't try and save our passwords. If there is a password for the site then chances are it's there for a reason not just to irritate us.
Yours sincerely
JR
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