This question is an open question since it's not bound to a programming language:
Is it a bad idea to provide users an auto-login feature? Why?
I've been reading a couple of papers arguing that auto-login feature on web development leads to many user having trouble with "hijacked" accounts. However, I would like to read a real answer/comment from someone with experience on this matter.
Well, I think it totally depends on the audience which is consuming the services you are providing.
If you are in an intranet environment, then it is a good idea to enable auto login features. Provides more luxury to the users. But still you must check in the background the application access level for each particular user.
In an internet environment you have much less control - more likely to say no control - of who is going to use the application. Therefore there you should have an authentication mechanism in place and do not provide any auto-login features except through cookies.
HTH