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TECH SUPPORT Whole cases, however, have hinged on metadata. In copyright infringement suits against music sharers in the U.S., for ex- ample, forensic specialists working for music industry lawyers showed through examination of hidden metadata re- corded by music-sharing sites and internet service provid- ers exactly who ripped music files, how and where files were posted, and who downloaded them. While cases that dramatic the learning curve on the subject. But half the battle, she says, is understand- ing that metadata is there and that you can get at it given the right technical expertise. But what is metadata? And why is it so important? are rare, lawyers ignore meta- data at their peril, says com- mercial litigator Kelly Fried- man, a partner at Ogilvy Renault LLP in Toronto. Friedman was part of a panel discussing the ins and outs of using metadata at the Leg@l. IT conference in Montreal in April. "Metadata is the aspect of e-discovery that is most poorly understood by law- yers — no question," she says. Modest- ly, she adds she is still at the bottom of poorly understood by lawyers — no question." — KELLY FRIEDMAN, OGILVY RENAULT LLP Definitions vary. Technologists like DD CL HRQTD-N6 Print ad 6/4/08 12:40 PM Page 1 Chuck Rothman, director of e-litiga- tion services at Toronto-based com- puter and accounting forensics firm H&A Forensics, define it as informa- tion about a document generated by the computer operating system or ap- plication in which the document was "Metadata is the aspect of e-discovery that is most created — the date and time it was last modified, for example, or its size. Ev- ery electronic document has metadata, Rothman explains, often much more than casual users imagine. Each Micro- soft Exchange message, for example, has 400 to 600 separate pieces of meta- data associated with it. Litigators tend to define meta- data much more broadly. Fried- man says it's any "value-added information about the content, context, or structure of an elec- tronic document." Even the filename and path (list of nested folders that con- tain the document) are meta- data, because they can provide useful information about the content — even though the user created them, not the operating system or applica- tion. How is it useful? An e-mailed invita- tion to lunch from one party in a price- fixing case to another would not on its own be considered relevant, Friedman points out. But if the recipient stored the message in a folder in Microsoft Outlook titled "Kill the competition" or "Pricing meetings," then it might become rel- evant indeed. The formula in an Excel spreadsheet — something Rothman does not con- sider metadata — can provide valuable information about the context of infor- mation in a document. Earlier versions of and revisions to a document can also offer vital clues. Friedman cites the hypothetical case We've advanced to new levels in the printing technology industry. Offering the highest quality and most diversified services. Contact your Dye & Durham representative for more information and Responsible Forest Management Cert no. SW-COC-002302 the business of printing solutions. PREFERRED SUPPLIER dyedurham.ca • 1-888-393-3874 • Fax: 1-800-263-2772 Dye & Durham is an FSC certified company making a commitment to Responsible Forest Management Dye & Durham is A Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd E 24 JULY 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com C U of a contract dispute over malfunction- ing equipment on a construction site. The terms of the warranty are under dispute, the defendant claiming the equipment was not warranted to work properly in rain, the plaintiff claiming this was not clear in the contract. If the defendant had access to the plaintiff 's comments on, and revisions to, drafts of the contract, and they included a note saying, "It looks like they're not guar- anteeing it will work in the rain," that would change the complexion of the case, she points out. A technologist would not consider re- visions and comments — which are only visible in Microsoft Word when you turn a D Y I n E 9 p N d & 9 C n D m R a 1 H a n A M S a 8 W e ' r e y C i o a