While many people are by now aware that electronic communications are considered to be "in writing" as a result of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act no. 25 of 2002 (ECT Act), the reality is that many magistrates only feel comfortable when they receive documents on paper. This is somewhat ironic as often the electronic document actually has more information (called meta-data) which is associated with the electronic communication but is not normally read by the ordinary computer/cell phone user.