Lately, I've noticed a lot of attempts to scare attorneys about the use of online resources. One form of this comes from "professionals" who make their living by telling attorneys how much danger they are in and how they can be saved. Telling someone not to tape their password to the monitor isn't exactly rocket surgery. I also like how they keep telling people to make their passwords longer and longer. Passwords are like padlocks. They keep the casual thief from getting in, but they aren't going to keep anyone serious out. They can accomplish that with six characters. If you're expanding your password to try and keep ahead of better and better password crackers you are going to be using a fifty character password in five years.

Another interesting point of fear mongering is coming from lawyers themselves. For instance, the ABA has come out with the following ethics opinion:

A lawyer sending or receiving substantive communications with a client via e-mail or other electronic means ordinarily must warn the client about the risk of sending or receiving electronic communications using a computer or other device, or e-mail account, where there is a significant risk that a third party may gain access. In the context of representing an employee, this obligation arises, at the very least, when the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the client is likely to send or receive substantive client-lawyer communications via e-mail or other electronic means, using a business device or system under circumstances where there is a significant risk that the communications will be read by the employer or another third party.

Okay, the part about an employer communicating with his attorney thru his employer's computer or