Say the secret word and win access to your life
”
What’s my password?
”
Once upon a time, it was a game show on TV. These days, it’s a
cry of frustration.
If you spend any time on the Internet at all, then you’ve
accumulated passwords. I have a password to access my laptop. I
have a password to access my e-mail. To do online banking, to buy a
book from Amazon, to look at my credit card account balance – I
need more passwords.
Say the secret word and win access to your life
“What’s my password?” Once upon a time, it was a game show on TV. These days, it’s a cry of frustration.
If you spend any time on the Internet at all, then you’ve accumulated passwords. I have a password to access my laptop. I have a password to access my e-mail. To do online banking, to buy a book from Amazon, to look at my credit card account balance – I need more passwords.
Oh, and then there’s the password to hear my cell phone voice mail. And PIN numbers for the ATM card and other things.
Passwords are driving me mad.
It occurred to me the other day, after logging in to my computer, logging on to e-mail and then trying to remember the password for something else, that there are entirely too many passwords these days.
Just a few years ago, it seemed like maybe one or two things had to have passwords. Now it’s just about everything. And it’s gotten to the point of utter ridiculousness.
For instance, there are several social networking sites on the Internet that I’m fond of that have to do with news. One in particular that I check out every day is Fark.com. People come onto Fark, post weird or interesting news stories, and give them a funny headline so that others will read them.
Then you can read the stories, comment on them, read others’ comments and so forth. It’s a great way to waste a half hour and I highly recommend it.
However, you have to have an account to contribute to the site, and a password.
I’m logging on to Fark the other day, and I’m thinking, why in the world do I need a password for this silly Web site, which is just really for entertainment? Do the Fark people really think someone might impersonate me and post stories from my account? And even if someone did, would it be a bad thing?
There’s security, and then there’s security. Most of the time, this stuff just seems absolutely pointless.
I can understand a password on an e-mail account and on anything to do with finances. But other than that? Pretty silly.
There’s nothing more frustrating than signing up for some Web site or other and then going back to it and not being able to get in because you’ve forgotten the password. The problem is, you can’t use the same password for everything.
There are sites that will take any old password. Others want you to use a combination of letters and numbers. Still others ask for capital letters and other crazy stuff.
So for instance, I have several variations on my basic password that I use over and over, some with numbers and some without. But often I forget what variation I’ve used, and have to keep entering passwords until I hit on the right one.
And then you can do everything right and still be wrong. I recently had an issue with a Web site for my credit card where it told me my user name was no good. Turns out it was the fault of the Web site, not my mine. But it’s enough to drive you bonkers.
A friend of mine thinks that eventually, all computers will be equipped with retinal scanners, a la James Bond, that will flash our eyeballs and make sure we’re the people we say we are. That will solve the whole password thing.
But that day is probably years away, and in the meantime, dealing with the passwords is the only way to go.
Let me go outside and scream now.
