---
title: "Picture This"
description: "\"Pictorial passwords\" make logging in a bit like a personal concentration game."
date: "2005-04-26"
authors:
  - name: "Susannah Fox"
    job_title: "Former Researcher"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/susannah-fox/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/04/26/picture-this/"
categories:
  - "Online Privacy & Security"
  - "Privacy Rights"
---

# Picture This

I recently visited a financial institution to learn more about how they anticipate and respond to technology advances in both Web design and gadgetry. One of the coolest things I learned about is called "pictorial passwords." The idea has been around for a long time – Slashdot has a [post](http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/28/1348217.shtml) about it from 2001 – but apparently it is [gaining traction](http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3171359).

You choose a series of personal photos that are then mixed in with [stock photos](http://pro.corbis.com/). Apparently, you can always pick out your snapshot of a generic-looking sunset or your own baby’s face. Taking it a bit further, no personal pictures are used, but you are told which stock photos to click on in a certain order – a concentration game that many people apparently prefer over the memorization of the many nUmBer$ & K@r@kters that are required these days.