Inadvertent Disclosures with Word Metadata
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More Trouble With Word Metadata



3/15/04

California Attorney General Bill Lockyear circulated to his fellow attorneys general a draft letter decrying the dangers of peer-to-peer software.   According to a report from Wired.com, hidden data in the Word version of the letter showed that a senior vice-president of the Motion Picture Association of America either drafted or reviewed the letter before AG Lockyear circulated it.

Peer-to-peer software (popularly known as "P2P") allows both legal file sharing and illegal sharing of copyrighted music and movies across the Internet.  The entertainment industry has made limiting P2P software one of its major projects, and the appearance of an MPAA vice-president in the letter's hidden data raised questions about the organization's role in influencing the draft.

For ways to remove hidden data from your Word documents, check here.


Invisible Ink" in Word  Reveals Attorney's Strategy


3/4/04

Plaintiff's counsel in a hotly-contested and high-profile case inadvertently revealed the plaintiff's strategy to the world recently.  According to a story at ZDNet, someone in the plaintiff's law firm released a Word version of the complaint.  An enterprising journalist who obtained a copy was able to use one of the "track changes" features in Word to recreate deleted material, including the fact that the plaintiff originally prepared a case against a different defendant from the one named in the final lawsuit.  The Article also notes internal comments about various allegations in
  the complaint.

For ways to remove hidden data from your Word documents, check here.






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