Pages

12/08/2009

Things that make you go Hmmm

In libraries we tend to take the security of library card account information pretty seriously often going to extreme means to protect the privacy of customers account numbers and data. This is good thing, I think, but when I was recently checking out the sign-up terms of AOL free email service, I was kind of struck by their choice in security questions.



Seems your library card number is thought of differently by AOL. Rather than being something to protect, it’s seen as a great gatekeeper question to protecting your email account access. Hmmm… I wonder how common it is to use library card # as a security question?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

good idea

Kathryn Greenhill said...

On the plus side, they presume that most of their users have a library card (and are able to locate it readily) ...

Courtney said...

I actually see this question frequently for security questions (along with "what's your pet's name" and the "name of your high school").

Courtney

Peter Bromberg said...

Aside from the idea of using a private account # (which is what a library card # essentially is) as the answer to a security question (irony!), the fact that AOL actually perceives library card possession is universal reflects well on us. I think.

Anonymous said...

AOL still exists?