Procedures for handling requests for discovery of electronically stored information such as e-mails, word processing documents, spreadsheets and other data files, as well as metadata contained in such files, is an ongoing subject of frequent controversy within civil litigation in both federal and state courts. Issues include the extent to which parties are required to provide such information (particularly when it is difficult and expensive to access), which party should bear the cost of producing such information, what format the information must be provided in, how to handle inadvertent disclosures of privileged information contained in electronic files, and to what extent such information can be admitted as evidence at trial. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were recently amended (effective 12/1/06) to address some of these issues in federal court practice, but numerous other issues have not been addressed in the rules, and the rules themselves will likely be the subject of further litigation over their meaning and application to specific facts.