[crashandburn4]

> Anyone who is concerned about security shouldn't be giving their password to a 3rd party to verify [even via a javascript webpage] for any reason.

I'd agree but I don't think anyone who reads hacker news is likely to use a password checker anyway. We all, however, know less technical people who could and would get compromised by something like this and to have it endorsed by the government sends the message that it is safe. That's the problem as far as I'm concerned.