Password Purgatory

Many in recent years have suggested that American workers aren’t as productive as our international counterparts.  Some say we spend too much time goofing off, playing on Facebook, or just zoning out at work.  I suggest that the single biggest reason our productivity has sagged since the turn of the century is that we are constantly forced to prove to our computer programs that we are who we say we are.

Yes, the latest in a never-ending parade of foreshadowing the apocalypse is the ubiquitous password.

If I were to do the math, I estimate that I’ve spent an average of three to five hours a week over the past decade dealing with passwords – changing them, remembering them, trying to come up with ones that meet the outlandish criteria, remembering where I wrote them down, and entering them – often multiple times a day.

Passwords are supposed to make our data more secure from hackers.  But I’ve heard that data breaches are more often than not caused by an employee clicking on an e-mail or hyperlink containing malware, and having every employee from coast to coast change their password every nine and a half minutes isn’t going to stop that.

The fact is, this fanatical obsession with – and subservience to passwords has only created the illusion of security, but then creating and propagating illusions seems to be the norm these days.  Like many other rituals in which we mindlessly partake, this Saint Vitus’ dance to the gods of encryption technology is here to stay.  And, will probably become increasingly senseless.

As one who remembers when “single sign-on” meant just that, I cannot contain my utter disgust when forced to create a nonsensical string of characters which must contain an upper and lower case letter, symbol, number, and buffalo ranch chicken dip recipe; cannot have been used by myself or any other person ever; and apparently cannot be Just@Shoot#Me*Now!

Trust me, I’ve tried it.