The Guy Who Invented Those Annoying Password Rules Now Regrets Wasting Your Time. Weve all been forced to do it create a password with at least so many characters, so many numbers, so many special characters, and maybe an uppercase letter. Guess what The guy who invented these standards nearly 1. He is also very sorry. The man in question is Bill Burr, a former manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST. In 2. 00. 3, Burr drafted an eight page guide on how to create secure passwords creatively called the NIST Special Publication 8. Appendix A. This became the document that would go on to more or less dictate password requirements on everything from email accounts to login pages to your online banking portal. Mr Oizo Stade 3'>Mr Oizo Stade 3. All those rules about using uppercase letters and special characters and numbersthose are all because of Bill. The only problem is that Bill Burr didnt really know much about how passwords worked back in 2. I/515AkC3WMwL.jpg' alt='Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manual Transmission' title='Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manual Transmission' />He certainly wasnt a security expert. And now the retired 7. Ryan Bingham Fear'>Ryan Bingham Fear. Much of what I did I now regret, Bill Burr told. The Wall Street Journal recently, admitting that his research into passwords mostly came from a white paper written in the 1. In the end, the list of guidelines was probably too complicated for a lot of folks to understand very well, and the truth is, it was barking up the wrong tree. Bill is not wrong. Simple math shows that a shorter password with wacky characters is much easier to crack than a long string of easy to remember words. TXTjGUfaEnA/hqdefault.jpg' alt='Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manual Blood' title='Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manual Blood' />Creative Zen Xfi Style 8gb Manual ArtsThis classic XKCD comic shows how four simple words create a passphrase that would take a computer 5. This is why the latest set of NIST guidelines recommends that people create long passphrases rather than gobbledygook words like the ones Bill thought were secure. Pro tip Use this guide to create a super secure passcode using a pair of dice. Inevitably, you have to wonder if Bill not only feels regretful but also a little embarrassed. Its not entirely his fault either. Fifteen years ago, there was very little research into passwords and information security, while researchers can now draw on millions upon millions of examples. Bill also wasnt the only one to come up with some regrettable ideas in the early days of the web, either. Remember pop ads, the scourge of the mid aughts internetThe inventor of those is super sorry as well. Oh, and the confusing, unnecessary double slash in web addresses The inventor of that idea and the web itself Tim Berners Lee is also sorry. Technology is often an exercise of trial and error. If you get something right, like Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg have done, the rewards are sweet. Flow Cytometry Software. If you screw up and waste years of unsuspecting internet users time in the process, like Bill did, you get to apologize years later. We forgive you, Bill. At least some of us do. Wall Street Journal. Every nerd loves a good tech war Windows vs Mac, Apple vs Android, Intel vs AMD. They give us something to armchair argue about over beers with friendsor to rant. Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manualslib' title='Creative Zen X-fi Style 8gb Manualslib' />View and Download Creative ZEN XFi with Wireless LAN user manual online. ZEN X Fi User Guide English. ZEN XFi with Wireless LAN MP3 Player pdf manual download. Download the free trial version below to get started. Doubleclick the downloaded file to install the software.