Third Voice revisited

[Mr Kai]

I looked up the past debates on whether Third Voice 'overlay' comment
service is (secondarily) liable for infringing copyright of the original web
publishers.  It seems there is no conclusive answer to that.

Lately, Greasemonkey is used popularly among Firefox users.  Greasemonkey is
a Firefox extension and allows users to modify web sites to personal taste,
eg., eliminating banner ads (even google ads), blocking pop-ups, displaying
several webpages in one web browser pane, etc.  What Third Voice was doing
is similar as Greasemoney in that it provides end-users with option to
modify web pages as is displayed to the individual users.

Does anyone have idea on whether the law has been any more clear than it was
in 1999 when Third Voice emerged from dark and soon faded away


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[Steve Middlebrook]

My oversimplified reading of the opinion -- it's ok to use metadata and unless you know you shouldn't.
Excerpt below.  Full opinion at  http://www.dcbar.org/for_lawyers/ethics/legal_ethics/opinions/opinion341.cfm



Opinion 341

Review and Use of Metadata in Electronic Documents

A receiving lawyer is prohibited from reviewing metadata sent by an adversary only where he has actual knowledge that the metadata was inadvertently sent. In such instances, the receiving lawyer should not review the metadata before consulting with the sending lawyer to determine whether the metadata includes work product of the sending lawyer or confidences or secrets of the sending lawyer’s client. 

Applicable Rules


Rule 1.6 (Confidentiality of Information)

Rule 3.4 (Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel)

Rule 4.4 (Respect For Rights of Third Persons)

Rule 8.4 (Misconduct)


Inquiry
We have received numerous inquiries concerning a lawyer's obligations regarding metadata that is imbedded in electronic documents received from opposing counsel. Metadata is electronically stored information, typically not visible from the face of the document as printed out or as initially shown on the computer screen, but which is imbedded in the software and retrievable by various means. Often described as "data about data," metadata provides information regarding the creation and modification of a document, and sometimes includes comments by persons participating in the creation or modification of the document.[1] To the uninitiated, metadata is hidden and perhaps unknown, but to competent computer-users, the existence of metadata is well known and may be a simple "click" or two away. The information that is embedded is often mundane and of little or no interest, but in some instances it may reveal significant information

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