How strong is your password

I was poking around GMail this weekend and noticed that in addition to virus checking, they now have a password strength meter on their account management page. This isn't a novel idea - or so I thought. So I decided to Google (and again without the term "test) it and found that there was only a handful of sites that provided a facility for testing. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I certainly didn't give the password site one of the passwords that I use now - I tried a very very old one and found that it was still secure. But to me it seems a little insecure to give passwords freely into a site to test - what are they doing with those tested passwords? But back to Gmail - they are they the first email service that I've seen that give you a meter for you strength (as did the other site). I know at work the security folks just reject poor passwords outright, so this is certainly a better way of doing things. And seeing as Google already has your password, I think it's a safe site to check your passwords, current and bygone at. Technorati Tags: Gmail, Security