Copy Protecting PDF Documents
 Portable
Document Format (PDF) is an open file format created by
Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. It was
originally not a freely available and the documents were
huge in comparison to their original text files.
Consequently there some competition provided by other
companies using their own formats and soon Adobe started
distributing its Acrobat Reader (now Adobe Reader) program
for free, which eventually became the de facto standard for
printable documents on the web.
Anyone can create applications that can read and write PDF
files without having to pay royalties to Adobe, and there
are some applications now available that have been created
independently of Adobe resources. Consequently, today there
are many PDF creators and readers to choose from, all
of which can create what looks like a PDF document, but they
may not be identical or fully compatible in cross matched
readers.
Simple protection for PDF
We use the term "simple" because it is just that. Here the
PDF has been encrypted and protected by either password or
expiry date, and most PDF solutions seem to provide this
option. These PDF documents have been designed to be viewed
in most generic PDF readers, and being based on such commonly
shared technology, anything created to extract passwords
and/or
the original content will usually apply regardless
of the PDF maker used.
Even the expiration settings on these PDF documents are
insecure because one only has turn back the computer's date
to rejuvenate an expired document.
But the distribution of PDF in this insecure format is
popular because it means that they can usually be viewed
using any PDF reader at hand. Also, many authors may have
been deceived and mislead when a PDF maker is promoted as
being able to protect PDF.
Secure protection for PDF
To properly protect PDF documents you need to forget about
making the document viewable in generic readers and start
considering a reader and document format that cannot be
decompiled.
For this reason alone CopySafe
PDF is the most secure alternative. The PDF documents
that it encrypts cannot be decompiled and they can only be
viewed by the CopySafe PDF Reader which also cannot be
decompiled to extract the secrets of the encryption that was
used. And instead of using expiry dates that can be cheated
you can opt to set dates validated by an independent time
server.
Copy protection for PDF
Beyond password and expiry protection, you can also include
copy protection to prevent users from copying graphics and
text or printing a document, and this is where
CopySafe
PDF Protection comes into its own because it was specially designed to be secure where others fail.
CopySafe PDF documents cannot be copied in any way, including
Printscreen and screen capture, not even from remote computers.
In fact there is no other solution in the world today that
can provide such comprehensive protection.
Beyond copy protection for PDF... DRM
While a document copy protected using CopySafe PDF is the
most secure document possible, it can still can be forwarded
on to other users. Preventing file copy is actually
impossible, because once you have a file of any format on a
computer there is nothing that can be done to prevent you
from copy'n'pasting it to another folder, sending it by
email copying it to CD for distribution.
But there is something that you can do to that file to
prevent it from being opened. I fact you can prevent that
file from being opened by anyone who has not got your
express permission to view the document, and that is what we
call Document Rights Management (DRM).
If the file can be prevented from being opened, you now have
effectively prevented unauthorized distribution. So even if
a user forwards a file onto a friend, it can be useless to
them without your permission.
Document Rights Management (DRM)
With ArtistScope
Document Rights Management (DRM) you can have total control over a
user's access rights. You can have total control over their
privileges to view, print and how many times they can view
or print a document. And your control extends to the
documents that have already been downloaded and already on
the user's computers... any changes that you make to a
document or the user's permissions will have immediate
effect.
Prior to ArtistScope DRM such total control was not
possible. In fact at the mere suggestion of this feature,
other document protection providers tried to undermine our
credibility claiming that total control remotely was
impossible. But now, after making use of ArtistScope online
demonstrations where they can create free demo accounts to
study the technology, they now finally know better.
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