Why you should not use autocomplete
Google have once again promoted the use of auto-complete-type, a new property for web forms that works in Chrome (and possibly other browsers).
Auto-Complete sounds like a really good idea but be warned you need to turn it off.
The problem is simple… if a website ‘hides’ a form field from your view – Auto-Complete may well fill that fields and when you submit that form those details will be submitted as well.
For instance, if sign up for an email newsletter, you might have just provided that website with your full address and/or (even worse) your credit card details too. It’s as simple as adding the fields to the form and hiding them from the user…
So: turn off auto-complete until your browser has better controls on what gets auto-filled.
Chrome
Go to your Settings, click Advanced settings at the bottom, then make sure the top box here (that is checked in the screenshot) is NOT checked:
Safari
This browser is even worse because Auto-complete is on by default, you need to turn it off in your settings.
The Future
Eventually browsers will catch up and they will alert you whenever Auto-complete information is being sent, but for the time being this is very risky indeed.