I need some help on a legal ethics question. I occasionally take my laptop to the Sacramento Public Law Library to use its public access wireless connection for some great online resources. Right now the California State Bar has a formal ethics opinion up for public comment:
http://calbar.ca.gov/calbar/pdfs/public-comment/2009/Prop-Opin-Tech-Confidentiality.pdf With regard to a hypothetical where "Attorney A" used a public wireless connection the opinion concludes: "that due to the lack of security features provided in most public wireless access locations, Attorney A risks violating his duties of confidentiality and competence in using the wireless connection at the coffee shop to work on client X's matter unless he takes appropriate precautions, such as using an adequate encryption device and a personal firewall." The opinion goes on to state that the attorney generally "should not use any unsecured public wireless connection that does not require a password for access." The opinion states that the attorney might get his client's informed consent to use the unsecured wireless connection. Footnote 15 notes that a hacker can gain access to a client's confidential information on a computer even if the file pertaining to the client is not open. I've got a dual boot laptop, but I have to use Windows for my legal work. Supposedly Windows XP has a firewall, though I've never used it. But note that the opinion talks about having to use both a firewall and an encryption device. So what is an "encryption device" that I can use to comply with the ethics opinion when I am using Windows Internet Explorer to connect to the web? Thank you. (And thanks for making your answers simple since I'm not a techie.) Bob _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
