Ars Technica has a very interesting piece on passwords and the Web sites that require them (and, in some cases, have some very interesting [lack of] requirements):
“The password creation process on different websites can be a bit like visiting foreign countries with unfamiliar social customs. This one requires eight characters; that one lets you have up to 64. This one allows letters and numbers only; that one allows hyphens. This one allows underscores; that one allows @#$&%, but not ^*()[]!—and heaven forbid you try to put a period in there. Sometimes passwords must have a number and at least one capital letter, but no, don’t start the password with the number—what do you think this is, Lord of the Flies?”
Really makes you wonder what goes through the heads of some of the folks making the rules…
