Microsoft’s new meta-data removal tool

February 20, 2004 on 8:44 am | In Web/Tech |

Most of you probably know what meta-data is, but I’ll try to explain. As an example, Microsoft Word keeps track of all sorts of information in the background that is tagged to the document, things like who the author was, what changes happened, etc. Information that you may unknowingly provide to opposing counsel everytime you e-mail them a .doc file. Microsoft has an article discussing this topic and how to minimize it.

At least one state bar (New York) has released an opinion that reviewing your opposing counsel’s meta-data is an ethical violation.

There are a number of third party software programs that remove metadata, including: Payne Consulting’s MetaData Assistant and iScrub by Esquire Innovations.

A segment on TechTV yesterday discussed the fact that Microsoft has released an Office 2003/XP Add-in: Remove Hidden Data. The Add-in works with Windows XP versions of: Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, and Microsoft Word 2002.

UPDATE: Dennis Kennedy post on why you should care about meta data.

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