Oh the Fun of Security Questions

Have you ever been stumped by a security question you created for yourself? It's a funny feeling , indeed.

I'm not talking about the types of questions that have concrete answers, like "what year was your mother/father born" - but the questions that assume a lot about your upbringing (the model of your first car) - or that prompt you to recall with great clarity something like "the first thing you learned how to cook."

Apple, though brilliant in overwhelming humanity with "innovative" products - does a rotten job with security questions.

I know for sure my parents met in Budapest - but I do not recall what I put as my favorite children's book at the time I answered this question. On a whimsical day, it could have been "The Phantom Tollbooth" - on a rainy, introspective day I might have put "The Giving Tree" or "The Little Prince" - but apparently none of my answers were correct. I listed something back then that I can't even recall today.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I can't remember for the life of me the first film I saw in the theater or which elementary school teacher was ACTUALLY my favorite, I had so many! And the name of my first pet was NOT Fluffy, it was Coco the hamster, but I know I will stump myself if I put the truth.

Dream job - that's cute. I wish I knew.

My favorite "film star" in school? Who the hell wrote these questions!?

I actually gave some feedback to a few people at Apple (on the phone) about how presumptuous and strange these questions are. I had locked myself out of my Apple ID because I had gotten all of the questions wrong and had reset my password so many times (because they don't let you have the same password within a year). They said they want to make sure the answers are very personal - something nobody else could know about you. I told them I thought these questions were too personal. I don't even know the answers to them about myself!