Re: [office-metadata] Legal metadata

[Lars Oppermann <Lars.Oppermann@Sun.COM>]

Sorry, my professional ethics committee has deemed reading emails
un-everything. can you please fax the information ;)

Thanks for the story, is there anything we can do to educate these
people that what they are talking about is not metadata specific, but a
problem of the applications they are using?

I can see how digging a document for leaked information can be
considered un-something. However, I think it is very dangerous, to imply
that there is a single technology (i.e. metadata) that is the sole root
of information leaks. Metadata can be a vehicle/container for leaked
information, but so can be email-headers, links to local files,
information embedded in images, black text with black background (my
favorite), reflections on shiny objects in photos...

IMHO they should rather motion against software that leaks information
and thus jeopardizes the privacy of its users.

/lars

Patrick Durusau wrote:
> Friends,
> 
> While looking for more information on legal metadata use cases I ran 
> across the following. It is "on topic" but strictly for your amusement. 
> And yes, I did check the source and the article appears to be an 
> official Florida Bar News article from *January, 2006.*
> 
> *****
> 
> *FLORIDA BAR BAFFLED AND UPSET BY METADATA* . . . According to the 
> /Florida Bar News/ 
> <http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/jnnews01.nsf/8c9f13012b96736985256aa900624829/c3f75b4e10e94f78852570e50051b23e?OpenDocument>, 
> the Florida Bar's Board of Governors wants to ban the practice of 
> looking at metadata in electronic documents. Said one board member, “I 
> have no doubt that anyone who receives a document and mines it . . . is 
> unethical, unprofessional, and un-everything else."
> 
> At its latest meeting, the board voted unanimously for a motion stating 
> that lawyers should not look at metadata. The board also referred the 
> following two questions to the Professional Ethics Committee of the 
> Florida Bar:
> 
>    The first is whether it is unethical for a lawyer to mine metadata
>    from an electronic document he or she receives from another party.
>    The second is whether an attorney has an affirmative duty to take
>    reasonable precautions to ensure that sensitive metadata is removed
>    from an electronic document before it is transmitted.
> 
> According to the article, several of the Florida board members hadn't 
> heard the word "metadata" until the meeting in which they swiftly voted 
> to take action against it. For more background on lawyers and metadata, 
> see my recent posts at the /Illinois Trial Practice Weblog/, "Electronic 
> Discovery: 'Metadata' Becomes a Sexy Word 
> <http://www.illinoistrialpractice.com/2005/11/electronic_disc.html>," 
> and "Avoid Embarrassment: Learn About the Metadata You're Creating 
> <http://www.illinoistrialpractice.com/2005/12/avoid_embarrass.html>."
> 
> Thanks to a reader for the link.
> *****
> From: http://www.legalunderground.com/2006/01/florida_bar_baf.html
> 
> Hope everyone is having a great day!
> 
> Patrick
> 



-- 
Lars Oppermann <lars.oppermann@sun.com>               Sun Microsystems
Software Engineer - StarOffice                           Sachsenfeld 4
Phone: +49 40 23646 959                                D-20097 Hamburg
Fax:   +49 40 23646 550                  http://www.sun.com/staroffice