ITunes Store, Apple ID, MobileMe Password Madness ...

Question

Just sent this to support, sharing it here to see if others are coming unstuck with the recent changes of the iForgot and the password complexity that they've added.
Essentially what must happen is that *someone else* thinks my account is their account, so after three attempts the account locks, and the password has to be changed.
- - - ** URGENT REPEAT ISSUE ** PLEASE ESCALATE **
Once again I'm getting prompts to reset my password because it has been entered too many times. I'm not entering it incorrectly.
This security measure DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!!!
If I have to reset my password for my iTunes account, this means I have to re-enter my password in DOZENS of places for MobileMe services (Mail, iDisk, Calendar, etc, etc) and multiple devices (MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iPhone, iPad ...).
It's getting ridiculous, I've had to do two password changes this weekend alone and I can't keep up with them.
It was less of an issue when the password could be reset to itself (essentially you were unlocking the Apple ID by verifying security questions) but a forced change is making things very difficult indeed.
It also makes iTunes store purchases difficult to make, so I'm less inclined to make them!!
Please, please look into this as a matter of urgency. I can't be the first person with a MobileMe account that this has happened to!!
Anyone Else??
Message was edited by: Sheldon King

Answer 1

Quite a number of people have complained about this exact problem see:
http://tinyurl.com/2cmw7ko
http://tinyurl.com/2bqohdq
http://tinyurl.com/2aqfn29 (shortened URLs to threads in the MobileMe forum).
It would appear that the requirement to use a new password each time is a new feature, hence the sudden upsurge of problems.
The only way forward is for everyone who has this problem to make as much fuss as possible until enough pressure builds up for Apple to do something - though exactly what is debatable.
The real problem is faulty initial design - it's a serious flaw that the login user name is the same as the account name which appears in web pages and emails: this means that anyone can find it out, and anyone can lock you out of your account, either inadvertantly or maliciously. If the login was different - so you would have to have an account name, a user login, and a password - the problem wouldn't arise: but unfortunately this would require a massive rewrite of the software and isn't likely to happen.
Up to now people in this situation have been able simply to reset to the same password - enough of a pain in itself if some fool somewhere thinks he owns your email address. It may be that the recent upheaval has been triggered by the spate of fraudulent purchases in iTunes.