title: Character/length restrictions on passwords?
body: <p>I see a lot of high profile websites and web apps that have seemingly absurd restrictions on passwords. Are there any legitimate reasons to have character restrictions on passwords? More specifically, common (as in, [shift]+[number key]) standard ASCII single-byte characters? What about unusually small length requirements (5 - 8 characters)?</p>
  
  <p>The only technical reason I can think of would be if the passwords were being stored in plain text rather than, at the very least, being somehow obfuscated/hashed. Are there any other less alarming reasons I haven't considered?</p>
  
  <p><em><strong>Note:</strong> I'm hoping for some objective answers and hope to avoid the temptation to delve into the subjective side of this topic. I'm more interested in real/concrete technical reasons for why such restrictions would be necessary.</em></p>