metadata in electronic documents

Data d " Useful for finding documents, reviewing, and sharing " Invisible, but not too hard to find " Reveals information about electronic documents beyond the printable text Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata and Ethics Opinions " Ethics Opinions 3 NYSBA Opinion 749; NYSBA Opinion 782 3 ABA Formal Opinion 06-442 3 Florida Opinion 06-2 3 MD Ethics Docket No. 2007-09 3 Alabama Formal Opinion 2007-02 3 DC Opinion 341 3 More to come& " At issue: Can you look and must you notify?<br><br> Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: Examples in the News " March 2004 3 SCO Group , seller of Linux and Unix, files suit against DaimlerChryster and Autozone. Metadata reveals the attorneys had originally identified Bank of America, but they were later removed from the pleading. " December 2005 3 Justice Department reveals social security numbers " March 2006 3 Google inadvertently reveals financial projections and info about projects in the works Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 MS Word 3 What Can Be Viewed " Author name/ initials " Company/organization name " Subject, file type, location " Date created/modified/last accessed " Number of revisions/versions " Previous document authors " Total editing time " Template information " Hidden text (formatting) " Comments " OLE objects " Macros " Hyperlinks " Redlining/changes Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: How Do I See It?<br><br> " Enable cTrack Changes d " View Comments " File 3 Properties and look behind the tabs " Text editors " Save as HTML and view source " Third party software Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 More Ways to View Metadata " Computer Forensics experts " Binary files " Unix/Linux users can use Antiword or Catdoc to view text file Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: How Do You Get Rid of It? " MS offers tools and tricks for removal " Save as PDF " Third party software tools " New versions of MS Office and Adobe Acrobat Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: Removal Software " Payne 9s Metadata Assistant " Esquire Innovations: iScrub " Workshare: Workshare Protect " SoftWise: Out-of-Sight Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 What to Look For in Metadata Removal Software " Analysis of all products (MS Office Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel) " Individual or batch " Automatic or user intervention " Integration with document management software " Cost/licensing Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: Don 9t Forget Email " MS Outlook using MS Word as editor " Header information reveals author, route, IP address " Attachments Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Metadata: Establish Best Practices " Get the facts " Understand the implications " Establish firm policies to protect yourself and your clients Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Electronic Discovery and Metadata " Metadata is a critical component of document " Metadata as a source of evidence " Court described printed email as cdismembered d " Discovery documents? Scrubbing = shredding " Many grey areas Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Email " Encryption: ABA Formal Opinion 99-413 3 Disclaimers " Chat rooms/e-mail discussion lists/web forums 3 Recorded, searchable conversations " With other lawyers 3 Be aware that even closed lists are not completely private " With people seeking legal help 3 Be careful, follow state ethics when responding to online message boards to the general public " Misaddressed e-mails " Spam and Phishing Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Documents " Consider a document management system or practice management system to control access to documents " Deletion does not remove the document " Levels of protection 3 Password " To open " To edit, copy, extract 3 Sharing " MS Office 2003 Information Rights Management " PDF 3 Portable Document Format 3 Encryption Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Redaction " Information hidden or covered in a computer document can almost always be recovered.<br><br> " Unless you do it the right way: 3 Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional Redaction Tool 3 Appligent Redax 3 Print, black magic marker, scan to PDF Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Redaction Example of improper redaction Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 PC Security " Develop a security attitude " Restrictions and rules are for the safety of the firm and the firm 9s clients " Stress security practices the same way you would with a child 3 cStranger, Danger! d " Your firm is your castle 3 lock the doors, bar the windows, and dig a moat Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Security: Five to Remember " Think passphrases, not passwords 3 Strong passwords are over 8 characters long and contain a combination of symbols and alphanumerics 3 Example: cMydoghasfl3as! d " Get security software bundles " Combine antispyware, antivirus, firewall, privacy, intrusion detection etc. in one " McAfee, Symantec, Panda, Zone Alarm, etc. " Automate updates " Antispyware and antivirus software that needs to be manually updated to be effective isn 9t worth the free pricetag " Security is up to you 3 not your IT staff or consultant " Security is a process, not technology " Change your default settings " Do Not Get Gotten 3 Read the End User License Agreement, be wary of offers that are too good to be true, don 9t click on pop-ups or blinking ads, realize companies do not ask for you to update your account information online (anymore at least), don 9t open attachments unless you know the sender and are expecting the attachment, be alert and wary Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 People Problems " Inside the firm 3 Disgruntled employees 3 Employees who are leaving 3 Untrained, unaware employees " Internet Use Policies 3 Staff 9s use of the internet can jeopardize the firm 3 Create and mandate internet use policy Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Wireless/Wifi Security " WiFi 3 Unsecured wireless Internet access opens the door to hackers/crackers, look-alike wifi networks 3 Protections: " Resist using unsecured wifi networks " Use a VPN to get into your network " Use hotel/airport ethernet ports instead of wifi " Unsecured Wireless Networks 3 Unsecured wireless networks invite wardriving, nosy neighbors, hackers 3 Protections: " Enable Encryption " Use hardware and software firewalls " Change all default settings " Limit the number of connections to the number of computers Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Mobile Devices " Greater freedom of movement = greater risk of loss or theft " Laptop computers, PDAs, cell phones, flashdrives must be secured " Protection is available 3 Passwords 3 Metapass Digital Key 3 Roboform 3 Encryption 3 LoJack for Laptops " Be wary of public PCs Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Understand Electronic Discovery " Amendments to the Federal Civil Rules of Civil Procedure became effective December 1, 2006 " Understand e-discovery or else 3 Zubulake, Metropolitan Opera 3 Native files vs.<br><br> print " Retain experts " Create an e-discovery strategy " Test on smaller cases Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Legal Research " Fee vs. Free 3 Make sure to check for authority (who is writing this stuff?) and currency (last updated when?) " Print vs. Digital 3 Some digital materials are more up-to-date and easy to use " Eg.<br><br> Shepards online or Shepards in print 3 Learn when to use print, when to go online 3 JUST ASK® a law librarian Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Data Backup " Backup is fundamental 3 What are the essential elements? " What about on-line back-up of computer data? 3 Is it ethical?<br><br> 3 Is it secure? 3 How do I select a vendor? Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 The Cost of Free " Mission critical applications for free?<br><br> 3 No/limited tech support 3 Privacy concerns 3 Free becomes fee (is your data hostage?) 3 Poof 3 and its gone 3 Spyware/Adware " The Sad Story of Red Gorilla " Ask: 3 What happens if they get a subpoena? 3 Who owns them? 3 Who owns my data?<br><br> 3 Confidentiality agreement? Arkansas Bar Mid-year Meeting 3January 2008 Thanks! <br><br>

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