Microsoft's free email service, Hotmail, is forbidding the use of particularly awful passwords. In a story at Ars Technica, Peter Bright describes how it's taking measures to prevent users compromising themselves.
Anyone creating a new Hotmail account or changing the password of an existing account won't be able to use obvious and common passwords like "123456" or "password." The system will also block common phrases, like "ilovecats." In the future, Microsoft may also extend this ban on obvious passwords to existing accounts at a later date.
People getting hacked can reflect badly on the service, too, especially when garbled early reports lead with huge lists of compromised data.
