You might want to try something more like:

use Term::ReadKey;
ReadMode('noecho'); # don't echo
print "Type your password:";
chomp(my $password = <STDIN>);
ReadMode(0);        # back to normal
[download]

...so you only print the password prompt when echo has already been disabled. This makes your program more compatible with things like Expect, which may not wait long enough after the prompt for the echo to be disabled before sending the password.

--isotope
http://www.skylab.org/~isotope/