You've probably heard the word "metadata," but what exactly is this mysterious information? Equally important how should it be handled? Failure to adequately capture and preserve metadata associated with electronic discovery materials has been considered spoliation of evidence and grounds for significant discovery sanctions. Conversely, a failure to erase metadata from outgoing law firm correspondence can inadvertently communicate a wealth of inappropriate information to recipients. This article reveals how metadata is created, its purpose, and situations where metadata can assume significant importance.

What is metadata?

People normally define an electronic document, spreadsheet, e-mail message or other digital data as the content they can see, the information intentionally added by the document's author. However, almost all computer programs automatically add additional information to a document, usually storing it at the beginning or end of the electronic file where the program can easily find it. This information is generically known as "metadata."

When a file is attached to an e-mail message or copied from one location to another, much of its associated metadata is also transferred with the file. Some metadata, however, is automatically updated to reflect the new location or other actions involving the file. As a result, computer files that appear identical when viewed or printed may have different metadata.