The near-impossible user registration of Copyright.gov
Today I attempted to register an account with Copyright.gov. The last time I submitted some of my artwork to them, I don’t remember having the ability to setup an account. I remember sending in some printouts and some paperwork, but maybe the experience with their site was so bad that I just blocked it out.
Not unlike any other typical outdated government site (the new one’s are great, no complaints there) I was asked a series of 20 questions to setup an account. When I got to the user name and password fields there was no indication of requirements on the password.
After submitting the form it gave an error and I quickly went back to my password to add a couple numbers on. I resubmitted and still no luck. I tried one more time without hitting an acceptable password, so I actually read, word-for-word, the error that I kept skimming over.
At first I thought it was kind of funny, but then it made me sad. I kid you not, this is exactly what the error on the site said (read them closely and see if you can crack their code):
We’re sorry, but the password you have chosen does not meet the Library of Congress password policy requirements. Please review the following and try again.
- Minimum password length must be 8 characters and consist of at least 2 alpha characters, 1 number and 1 special character.
- A password must have no consecutive repeated characters.
- A password must not include your user name or any part thereof.
- A password must not include the names of a spouse, children, pets or one’s own name.
- A password must not include any regional sports teams or players.
- A password must not include any office symbols.
- A password must not include your social security number or any subset of your social security number that is more than a single number.
- A password must not include words that can be found in any dictionary, whether English or any language.
- A password must not be any of the 11 most recently used passwords for the account.
No words from any dictionary, in any language? It can only have 1 number that’s found in your social? No office Symbols? What the hell are office symbols – like the exit sign or the excel icon? How would I even get an office symbol into a password field?
They should have strait out told me I wasn’t allowed to sign up for an account instead of all this. I have thick skin. If the government doesn’t want me in their site, I’m cool with that.
But I’m pressing on, I don’t want to have to fill out paperwork and mail anything in the future, I mean, this is the Internet age.
I don’t know what’s left – so I think I’ll hit some random keys on the keyboard:
I4ut9fuj48rfu$ – oops “Ut” is word – the syllable once generally used for the first tone or keynote of a scale. Two of those numbers are from my social security number. No Good!!
Trying again:
Eyjafjallajokull – Well, that was coincidental but still no good!
Is coming up with a password even possible for this? They should just assign me one instead of having me try to guess the exact one they want me to use. This could take all day.
Now I’m thinking – you know, this is a government agency. Maybe this form is really a near-impossible code that no one has been able to break and there’s a job offer on the other side of it for the secret service to the first person that can crack it.
Or maybe they just don’t know what user experience design is. Yeah, that’s probably it.
Looks like I’m doing some printouts and sending them through snail mail. I’ll try again in another six months.