In a formal written opinion, the panel gave the go-ahead to a lawyer to let clients view and retrieve their own files. Committee members said the plan, as sketched out for them in an inquiry from the attorney, did not run afoul of existing ethics rules about what lawyers must do to safeguard client information. But the committee cautioned that their approval was based on the kind of security the lawyer promised to set up, both in encrypting the files and taking other methods to preclude unauthorized “hacking.” And the panel also said that the attorney has the obligation to “conduct periodic reviews to ensure that security precautions in place remain reasonable as technology progresses.”

This assumes that the client accessing the material is capable of maintaining security while accessing, which,  even if not in jail, it seems very unlikely that they will be able to ...