Help me fix my metadata confusion?

A few questions. I tried to ask them as concisely and clearly as possible, but I’m not sure I succeeded. Please ask for clarification as needed!

1. Say you created a PDF document on date x.xx.xx, but you sent that document through email on date y.yy.yy, and the recipient got the document on date z.zz.zz. What date would be read in the metadata on the recipient’s computer?

1. b. In what scenario(s) would/could the recipient read the creation date as “x.xx.xx”?

2. Say you download a document from the cloud. The document was put up on the cloud on date a.aa.aa. What is a way/are ways that you could read the creation data as a.aa.aa?

(If you happen to be wondering, yes, this question is inspired by a recent topic in the news. I am just trying to understand this one piece, because this piece doesn’t make much sense to me, but if you think it’s easier to answer by referencing details from news stories covering the topic, feel free to do so.)

Thanks!

(PS—I am apparently able to ask questions through the main Fluther site again! Yay!)