We have come into the slick modern world of computers and smartphones during the last 25 years or so, and a wonderful world it is. Except for the most irritating, time consuming, trouble making thing designers of this wonderful new world managed to think up.
I’m sure it has been done just to annoy us all. I mean who doesn’t get annoyed at having to register with every business you chat to and then create a password you’ll no doubt forget the minute your transaction is done.
Now I am quite happy to accept that there are many occasions where having these coded keys are vital — such as when dealing with your bank; using PayPal to complete a transaction; dealing with toll roads; or arguing with telco over some crash it’s had, causing me to miss some important message I had been waiting for. Yet, I just don’t see why it’s important to be registered with some company selling socks, or pens, or printing ink.
It seems obvious to me (and I may be being a little bit cynical here, though I doubt it) that the only reason for all this security is so that these companies have us in their grasp, making it difficult for us to go elsewhere with our custom. No other reason springs to mind at all!
What makes this ‘custom’ even more annoying is the fact that I can go into my local shopping centre and buy something there, often very similar to things I might buy online, and not have to give any details about myself at all. I can buy a motor mower in the local hardware store, a packet of paracetamol at the chemist, a suite of furniture at a leading retailer, or the week’s groceries at any of the supermarkets and not once will I be asked to register or create a password. I can even wander around all these shops and many, many others — strolling in and out again and again — without buying anything, but no one asks me who I am.
The internet businesses don’t stop at the indignity of adding you to its database. Once they have insisted that you register, they then tell you they want access to such information as where I am, so that they can check up on me whenever they want to. I think not!