Does anyone else have an issue with those security codes you are asked to read and type in when you submit something online? What moron came up with this idea? I would like to find that person, hook him/her up to electrical current and make him/her sit all day entering those codes. Every time a code is improperly entered an electrical shock will surge through the body.
Normally I do not derive pleasure from seeing another person in pain. Pain for the person in the aforementioned case is and exception. I would be pleased to sit all day long and watch the inventor of the online security code zap himself of herself.
I have no issue with passwords that identify me as the person logging onto an account. My bank account requires a password and I understand why. Even my Yahoo mail account requires a password when I sign in and I understand why.
However, entering a security code is nothing but annoying when I am already logged into a sight that has my personal information. For example, the Yahoo Personals is one that makes you read and enter one of those jumbled up, blurry codes to send a message to another yahoo personals member. Why is that? If I sign up on the Yahoo Personals with a false identity that security code is not going to figure out who I am.
Work with me here. I met the love of my life, Deborah, on the Yahoo Personals. I was fortunate enough to make it through the mine field of security codes long enough to meet her. Some of the messages I sent to her took three or four security code attempts to get them on the way. Thankfully she was patient with me and did not go looking for someone who was better at deciphering codes. Yet another reason I love her.
Any site owned by Yahoo uses this security code system of irritation. The person who invented it must work for Yahoo…maybe that is the answer to the why question in Yahoo's case. Could it be that simple? Some person who works for Yahoo invented this security system. Not wanting to appear as idiots for hiring this person, the Yahoo executives endorsed the system and began using it. That does make sense, although the security code does not extract any information about me that was not captured when I signed up with Yahoo.
This system is not unique to Yahoo. Ticketmaster required me to enter a security code before the system searched to see if tickets were available for an event. I tried unsuccessfully three times to enter the security code before I called the place where the event was to be held and found out that the event was sold out…of course. Why did I need a security code on Ticketmaster to find out that the event was sold out?
One of my friends tried to explain about security codes, in general; the security code insures that a real person, not a “bot” (whatever that is) entered the code. Nope, I am not buying that one. If this “bot” could log into the Yahoo Personals as me, read and respond to a message from Deborah, I am sure it could decipher the code. Try again?
Someone did try again. Another friend suggested that it is just a way of keeping a log of my activity on the site. Nope, I am not buying that one either. I have to be signed into the site to do anything and I am certain that the site tracks all activity without a code. When I was a paying member of the Yahoo Personals, Yahoo had the best way known to man for tracking me. They had my credit card number; no need for a security code.
If there is ever a criminal need to track someone online, I doubt the authorities use that security code. I wonder if they have to enter one of those codes at the police department before they can track someone's criminal activity online…probably not. Just for fun, ask a civil attorney if he has ever used one of those security codes as evidence in a lawsuit. He will probably laugh at the question.
I am certain that nothing I say or write will change the online security code system and I will continue to deal with it when necessary. It would be great if someone could just tell me why the security code system is needed. That question would be answered and there would be one less thing clogging my brain when I sit down to write a column.
