Gl.ib.ly

For the longest time I have been unhappy with password masking in GUIs. I never really saw the point and a whole host of functionality has been developed to help users out when dealing with passwords; browsers remember and auto-populate password fields for users. I use many passwords, even have my own encrypted password lists, however, I only use a handful of sites everyday and I know those passwords pretty well. This doesn't stop me from making errors while typing complicated 10-16 character passwords -- three in a row is not unheard of and then you have to deal with unreadable CAPTHAs. Seeing the password reinforces the context in which the password is used and helps users learn them off more quickly.

A much better option is to use a screen privacy filter to stop a wide audience from snooping over your shoulder.

This is just one of those gripes that was rekindled when I read The Problem with Password Masking.