Hidden Content In Your Documents: What You Don't Know Can Be Dangerous

http://ow.ly/6MRl9

An article by Scott Smull posted on the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website.

The article discusses the legal risks posed by metadata, and other forms of hidden data in electronically stored information.

As the article states, "Hidden information in documents can pose serious risks in all types of legal proceedings, yet many people are totally unaware of this danger. A potent example of hidden information is document metadata - hidden information contained in Microsoft® Office documents, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint files."

The article goes on further to discuss risk associated with metadata, including "track changes" associated with "Word" documents. "The key to the problem is not that metadata is added to a document, but that it is difficult to fully identify and remove. For example, in Microsoft Word, adding comments and tracking changes are very helpful to users collaborating on a document. However, when a change is not accepted, it remains with the document, even though it appears to be invisible. These changes can easily be displayed by turning on the "show markup" view, which can result in embarrassing situations where external parties see information that was not intended for their eyes."

The article provides specific examples of legal issues caused by transmission of metadata, and also provides several legal opinions regarding the use of metadata.

The article goes on to state, "Metadata can and generally should be cleaned before distributing a document, though it is surprisingly easy to send a document with confidential information outside the organization, particularly with the proliferation of smart phones and tablet devices that enable one to view, edit and redistribute documents via email, further increasing the risk of revealing confidential information outside a system's firewall.

Although there are conflicting legal opinions about the handling of document metadata, it is clear that this is an issue that deserves attention by every organization producing electronic documentation."


P.S.  For litigation purposes, metadata is often discoverable under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as it has been held to be part of the document as the document exists in the ordinary course of business under FRCP Rule 34.