Getting Started
How Our DRM Works
This portal caters to eBooks and PDF documents which may be solely copy-protected or with the added protection of DRM. To distribute documents in copy-protected form
only, you do not need to use this DRM Portal. Only documents that are to
be controlled by DRM need be registered here. DRM manages access to documents by checking the access privileges assigned to both the document and the user.
To use DRM control, the document needs to be registered in our DRM
database for it to be recognized by the CopySafe PDF Reader. For a user to be allowed access to a DRM-protected document, they must be listed as one of your users.
Adding New Documents
On your Documents page, there is a link to click to Add New Document.
The most reliable PDF conversions are created by the server-side version
of CopySafe PDF Protector. Documents created by the server are more
reliable because there is less chance of making errors with file names
and so on, especially with the URL to use as the DRM authority for the
document. It is most important that the file name that gets embedded
inside the document perfectly matches the file name stored in the
database. These files can be renamed after conversion and recording by
the server.
Document Preparation
CopySafe PDF caters for documents created using standard PDF format. It
may not support features support by other proprietary readers. For
example, embedded video and 3D objects are not supported. Some special
effects that Acrobat 9 and later use for transparency and CSS style are
not supported. However all documents created in Microsoft Word and
converted to PDF using Acrobat 8 or earlier can be encrypted and
protected as perfect replicas of the original.
Watermarks, bookmarks and hyperlinks are supported. If the converted
file differs to the original, check your methods. If using Adobe
InDesign or Acrobat 9 or later, always "optimize" or "save" the document
for compatibility with Adobe Reader 8 or less. Some other document
editors like OpenOffice are not suitable at all.
The best tools for this job are Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat 8.
Demo accounts are limited in file size that can be uploaded; otherwise, there is no limit in file size. However, should the document be larger than 4 MB, you may want to check that the images have been resized for web use. Many people commonly make the mistake of using images that have not been properly edited for size or resolution. For example, a resolution of higher than 96 DPI (dots-per-inch) is wasteful as most computer monitors are only good for 72-96 dpi. Images that come directly from cameras and scanners can have as high as 600 dpi and should be given some attention. GIMP is a popular and sophisticated image editor that you can use and it is free to download. The overall dimensions of the image may also need some attention as editors like Word will auto-fit an image to a page, regardless of whether it is 800, 1000 or even 3000 pixels wide. As a rule, an image that is roughly 800 pixels wide will fill the width of an A4 page. You may also find that an image quality setting of 60% looks as good on a computer as one at 100% quality but with a dramatic reduction in file size..
Uploading Documents
Demo accounts are limited in file size that can be uploaded;
otherwise, there is no limit in file size. Some documents converted and
stored in this portal are 90 MB and more. While this may have been
necessary to register the document in the system, delivering that same
document from the server may not not good practice because if a user
reads it from the web, every time they open the document they have to
download it all over again. So to encourage your subscribers to read
locally, get them to download and save the document to their computer.
Most authors use our DRM Portal for subscription management only and
then advertise and sell their eBooks from their own web site and several
online eBook outlets. So if your document is huge, say 60-100 MB, then
it is not important that you have it on our server. So what some clever
authors do is create two (2) versions of their eBook that use the same
file name. The short version is uploaded to our server to register the
document in the system, and the larger full version is distributed on
disk or form a download site after purchase. That short version could
also serve as a tantalizer; a sample with excerpts taken from the full
book.
Document Quality
The quality of your protected document will depend on the original document, its content and the PDF converter that was used to create it.
While there are numerous document converters and editors that can
produce what looks like PDF, the document may not actually conform to
proper PDF standards.
The best results are produced from Word originals that were converted to PDF
using Acrobat version 8 and lower. If you don't have these tools and
suspect that your current PDF converter may be unsuitable, for 32-bit
computers the Universal Document Converter (UDC) is included as an
option in the CopySafe PDF Protector installer.
The choice of image format is also a factor. For best quality, do not use over-compressed images or images of low resolution.
Some images created by 3D software can be inferior and unsuitable for
encryption. It is also best to avoid using GIF images as they can look
pixilated when resized. JPG and PNG are good but BMP will always look better all round when the page is varied in size.
Note that PNG images were not supported in the days of Adobe Reader
versions 5 and 6 and are likely to disappear.
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Document
Management
Document Settings
There are different protection options available depending on whether
you "copy-protect" only or "copy-protect with DRM". If you
"copy-protect" only then your document will have its settings embedded
inside and thus not require user approval by the DRM server.
Consequently, they will be protected from all methods of copy but
nothing will prevent users from sharing such documents.
Only by employing our DRM can you prevent users from sharing your
documents. While DRM requires that the document be registered in the DRM
database and that the user needs to be online to gain permissions to use
that document, it is actually a much more flexible method. For example,
you can vary a users permissions or change a document's settings at any
time with immediate effect, even applied to documents already saved to a
user's computer or out in wild on CD.
Unique User Identification
Unique user identification is one of the most important features of our DRM because it enables the Administrator to assign access rights to individuals and ensure that those rights cannot be shared. When the DRM is applied, visitors are identified by their unique computer signature
by the DRM Portal which, after initial registration, will automatically
recognize their repeat usage. This unique user identification also enables the system to track the usage of each visitor so that view and print limits can be enforced,
and expiration can be applied by calendar date, number of days or even
number of hours (starting from the user's first use).
Expiry Dates
Different rules apply when DRM is applied to a document. Normally, the expiry date is embedded inside the document and you have the option to nominate time checks by an online time server or use the user's local computer time. Using local time, however, can enable a user to alter their computer time to exploit that limitation. When applying DRM to the document, the expiry date is not embedded but is instead recorded online, where you have more control to update it at any time. Also, if you are dependent on online time, your expiration setting can never be exploited. Regardless of where a user is located or where the DRM server is located, expiration settings via DRM will always be governed by Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), so expiry dates will always finish at midnight GMT.
Expire By Number Of Days
As an alternative to using a set date, on which a document should expire, authors can set the number of days instead. These days are calculated afresh for every time a user will log in from the starting date of a document. This option is most useful for limiting a subscriber's usage to a document starting from the date that they first open that document. So, even though the document may have been in circulation for a long time, like with CD distributions, the user will be able to access it for
n number of days from when they start using it, which could be next year or the year after..
Expire By Number Of Hours
Authors can also set the number of hours which are calculated afresh for every time a user will log in and use the document from the time it was first used. This option is most useful for limiting a subscriber's usage to a document, starting from the time that they first open that document. Even though the document may have been in circulation for a long time, like with CD distributions, the user will be able to access it for n number of hours from when they start using it, which could be any time that the Administrator assigns.
Password Protection
Setting a password only applies to documents that are copy-protected
only, and not for DRM. Passwords are unnecessary with DRM-protected
documents because the user's access rights are instead enforced
according to their unique computer signature.
Group Assignment
A Group is the key to rights allocation between documents and users. All
documents need to be assigned to a group and an author may have one or
many groups, each one used for a different department or level in their
tutorial. Documents assigned to a Group become accessible to all users
under that group. Moreover, you can also nominate users from other
groups found in "Whitelist" selector in the group's settings. A variation to this rule is possible by using eBook assignment (see eBook section).
Group White-list
The Group Whitelist can be used to add users who belong to other groups.
Any user added in a group's whitelist can access all documents belonging
to that group just as if they were a member of that group.
Print Limitation
When converting a document for copy protection only (no DRM), the print limitation options are simply to disallow (default setting) or to allow printing. However, when DRM is applied to your page or document, not only do you have the option of allowing or disallowing printing, but you can also limit the number of prints that are allowed per user from 1 to 999,999 times. DRM print limits can be varied at any time and may apply to "occasions" and not to the number of copies made on each occasion. For example, if a printing limit of one (1) is applied, then each user will have permission to send the document to the printer once after which, they cannot print that document again on another occasion. But once a document has been sent to the printer, it is out of the realm of any controls and the user can then nominate to print 1 or 100 copies.
Note: When printing is allowed, the user can only send to a real printer; they will not be able to send to a network printer because anything seen as a "virtual" printer such as printer-drivers, that convert files, cannot ever be allowed because it would undermine the essence of print protection. To better understand why, printer drivers (virtual printers) can convert your documents to PDF and these can also convert documents to many other file formats. Unless you want to enable users to convert your protected documents back to normal PDF, forget about supporting virtual printers.
Print Anywhere
Warning: Normally virtual printers are not allowed because they include
printer-drivers that are used for converting files to different document
types. For example a PDF converter is a printer-driver that converts
files to PDF. Consequently, allowing a user to use virtual drivers
printers can enable them to create an unprotected version of your
document.
Remote View
Remote viewing means displaying a document on a virtual computer, while viewing that computer's desktop from another computer. For example, Windows, Mac and Linux computers can run other operating systems (OS) in a partition. By installing Windows in a partition created by VMWare or Parallels software, the media can be exposed to unprotected copying because the software that should be preventing copy may not be running or even installed on the computer that is making the remote connection. This happens even while it may be running on the computer that is displaying the media. The option to allow remote viewing is available but it is not recommended. It may be useful for authors who are working from Mac computers for proofreading purposes but be warned that it opens your document to exploitation.
Allow Capture
This option can enable a user to use Print Screen or screen capture
software to copy your document's content. The default setting is to
prevent all copy and capture.
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User Management
Adding New Users
Authors can add new users to any Group that they own. Users can be added using the main form, which can include extensive information about their company contact details and private comments for their own internal use. From a user's edit page, authors can make adjustment for many different settings that govern group membership, author status and the information that they themselves can or cannot change. Alternatively, an author can use the "Quick Add" option, which only requires the input of an email address. You can also add clients as eBook users (explained below).
Adding Bulk Users
This feature is available to the master administrator only. New users
can added to the DRM Portal in bulk by copy-pasting from a CSV file
20-50 rows at a time. The bare information required is Firstname,
Lastname, Email and Password. If a password is not assigned or is less
than the required minimum of 8 letters, the system will generate a
random password for the user. This form provides selection for group to
assign and the option of emailing each new user with a welcome message
containing their log-in details and instructions for installing the
CopySafe PDF Reader.
Adding eBook Users
Ebook user rights differ from Group member rights. Group members can access all documents assigned to their Group. In contrast, eBooks are assigned to the user, which allows one to become a member of a Group (or several Groups). They may also have several eBooks assigned to them from many different authors. eBooks can be assigned to a user manually or the process can be automated from a successful online transaction such as those that use PayPal. To add an eBook user manually from the "eBooks" page in your control panel, click on "Add eBook user", select the eBook and type in the individual’s email address and password. You don't have to worry if it is an existing customer or if the user is already listed in the database because the system will check all records and update accordingly.
Note: Demo accounts are affected by automatic expiration so if you add an eBook user who happens to already have a "demo" account, then their status will be updated and that expiration will no longer matter. Such users will no longer be "Demo" users and their account privileges and indexes will be changed for accessing eBooks only.
Computer Identification
The very first time that a user opens a protected document, the
CopySafe PDF Reader will ask them for a username and a password to register their computer signature in the
database Should they change computers at a later date, they can always log into the system using the same username and password to update their details.
User Document Rights
The main point to realize is that by adding users to various Groups, you are enabling them to access any documents that have been assigned to those groups.
Users can also access any documents belonging to groups where they are
included in the whitelist for that group. Documents also have white-lists.
When a user logs into their Control panel a document list will show them
which documents have been assigned to their group. That list may or may
not include documents from other groups for which they have been
white-listed. Users can also be assigned documents directly by using
eBook assignment. Ebook assignment is a one-to-one basis or rather, a
book-to-user basis that operates independently from all rules related to
group access.
Multiple Accounts
It is not possible for a user (unique computer) to be a member of more
than one group. However a user can be associated to an unlimited number
of groups and documents by adding them to their whitelist.
Multiple Computers Assigned To One Account
An author has the ability to allow each user to use up to three
computers with their account. The default setting is to allow one
computer only. Between 1-3 computers can enabled in the group settings.
or 1-3 computers can be enabled in a user's settings. Nether setting
over-rides the other. For example a group may be set to allow only one
computer, which means that all members of that group can only use one
computer with their DRM account. But any one of those users can be
assigned 1-3 computers independently by the admin/author for that group.
The first computer is usually assigned to a user from the Reader when
opening a DRM protected document for the first time. However if that
first position is empty then the first computer can be assigned by
logging into the Control Panel using a web browser. Such updates are
possible with version 3.0 of the Reader installed and by licking Ok to
any prompts about allowing add-ons to run.
Computer Lock - Prevents Computer Change
While it is convenient to allow a user to change the computer that is associated with a single account when needed, some authors may see this as an opportunity where a user can exploit one. For example, while it may be convenient to change computers from office-to-office or office-to-home when needed, a user can also use that opportunity to lend their user account to other persons who may not have been authorized by the author. To prevent such exploitation, an author has the option of applying Computer Lock. Computer Lock is applied to individual user accounts from the user's edit page. When this is enabled, a user cannot update a computer from the Reader once it has been set. For a user to change a locked computer ID, the Author must be contacted for permission so the user’s ID can then be removed. This will enable the new computer to be accepted and recorded. The default setting is to allow computer signature changes.
Access Lock - Prevents Access To The DRM
Web Portal
If it is desirable to prevent users from logging-in to change their contact details, an Author can apply "Access Lock". Access Lock is applied by editing a group’s settings and is group-wide. This means that if Access Lock is applied to a group, then only the Author will be able to log into the portal. Access Lock does not affect a user's rights to access documents on the computer. The default setting is to allow access to the Control Panel.
Name Lock - Prevents Real Name Changes
Where an author needs to identify users by name, allowing them to change those names can therefore break familiarity. For this reason, there is an option that can be set to prevent users from changing their first and last names once both have been nominated. Only one letter is needed to qualify as a name. Name Lock is applied in a Group's settings and affects all users in that Group except the author. The default setting is to allow first and last name changes.
User Check
This option can remove the requirement for a user to be authorized
before viewing a document. When "User Check" is disabled any user can
open the document, regardless of whether they have an account in the DRM
Portal or not.
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eBook Management
eBook vs Document Management
There is a vast difference between user rights for eBooks and for documents that must be understood before setting up an eBook distribution. DRM rules for documents are simple: All members of a group can open all documents that are associated to that group. But the rules for eBooks are quite different because individual books can be assigned directly to users and eBooks from different authors can be assigned to the same user. However, they both start out the same way—as documents. Then, that document can be changed to eBook status at any time but it needs to be moved to a group that has no users, unless you want all members of that group to access it. Therefore, it is highly recommended for you to create a separate group to store all of your eBooks and not assign any users to that group immediately. Instead, let their rights be added as eBook users when that time comes. The document can be moved by editing the setting from your Documents page by clicking edit and then changing the group in the dropdown selector.
eBook Conversion For Online Sales
As already mentioned, all publications start out as documents. When a PDF is uploaded and is converted to a protected .ENC document for DRM control, it will be listed on your Documents page. All permission settings will be managed by editing document properties from that Document page, even if they are eBooks. If you are going to convert a Document to an eBook, the document itself will not change. What will change is the information that is associated with it, so that the DRM server will know that it will be published as an eBook. In addition, some extra information to use in the bookstore catalogue will also be changed.
Once you have your document in the system, you
can simply convert it to eBook by clicking the "Add" link in the eBook
column, alongside the document's name in your list.
Note that documents uploaded for copy protection only should not be used
for eBooks. If you look in the ENC column, you will see one book marked
by orange outline which was NOT converted for DRM at the time of upload.
This file cannot be managed by DRM control and should not even be in the
system. If you want to distribute eBooks for free, upload them for DRM
in the usual manner and then change their settings to ignore user
validation by
setting UserCheck to Off.
When providing the information for your eBook, an important field is "Language" because it governs where and how your eBook is returned in searches. For example, French eBooks can only be found while searching in French, and so on. Another important field is "Summary" as this is the information that appears in the search results and from category sorting. The Title and Summary fields also appear in the meta tag of your product page for search engines, so this information needs to be keyword rich. Once you have saved the eBook's details, then you will be able to upload an image to use as the cover display.
After setting up your document as an eBook, make sure to move it to a
group that does not have users assigned.
eBook Cover Image Design
You can design you image sing any tools at your disposal or you can use
our online Cover Design Tool.
Once you have your image, you can upload it using the button at the
bottom of the eBook settings page. Suitable image types are GIF, JPG and
PNG of good quality and at least 450 pixels high x 270 pixels wide. Any
images that are smaller than this will result in a degradation of quality because
any images uploaded here will be rescaled to the final size of 270
pixels wide × 450 pixels deep. The
Cover Design Tool can also
be accessed from the main page in your
Control Panel. Accessing the tool while
you are logged into your DRM portal will ensure that any designs that
you have created
will be saved to your account and will always be available in an archive.
eBook Distribution Options
Documents that are listed in the eBook store can be distributed with or without
protection and they can be offered for free or for sale. The protection
policy applied to your eBook depends on the upload type, such as if it
were uploaded
for copy protection only, or uploaded for copy protection plus DRM. Even
if your eBook is for free, you may still want to control just who has
access by applying DRM, in which case, each user will need to request
your permission so that they can be added to your user base.
Note: It is not mandatory to distribute your eBooks from our online
store only. Once you have your eBook registered in our DRM portal, then
you can distribute your eBook by email; as a download from
your own website; or to any other online eBook store. The eBook only needs
to be registered in our DRM portal for you to manage its permissions.
eBook Settings For Free Distribution
The information provided in your eBook settings govern how the
information is displayed and what links are provided to site visitors.
Even for free distribution, you need to be careful to input the correct
information. The image below depicts a typical eBook that has been set
for free distribution. By providing the file name, the user will see a
"Download" button instead of a "Buy" button. As to whether the eBook is
DRM protected or not is governed by your settings when it was uploaded
as a "Document".
eBook Settings For PayPal Sales
To send visitors to PayPal to purchase your eBook, all you need is to
provide the information that you see below:
The currency type needs to match the default currency set in your PayPal account. The AccountID is the email address that you have used as your PayPal account identifier. From a successful transaction, the visitor will be redirected to our online store to automatically subscribe to this eBook. To test your settings, make one of your eBooks $1 and follow the sale through the catalog to PayPal and follow the instructions. You may have to pay using a different PayPal account if you are going to purchase via the same account as they have some restrictions on such purchases.
eBook Sales & Auto Subscription
Unless specifically disabled for your account, all successful transactions made via PayPal can automatically add a subscription for the purchased eBook. Note that the emphasis is on "can" and it depends on the visitor if he wants to get redirected back to the online store after paying using Paypal. If the user does not opt to “continue shopping” and get redirected back, then the sequence will be interrupted. In such cases, you will have to manually add the user and should always check that all sales have been delivered from the store. Otherwise, the sequence that follows will prompt the system to add the user, if the individual is not yet in your user base or it will update their existing record. They may be added as an eBook user and assigned the rights to use the eBook that they purchased. If that user already belongs to another group (another author) then their account settings may not be editable, however if you ever need to remove their subscription then you can do that without affecting their account.
eBook User Creation From Shopping Carts
It is also possible to automatically add new eBook users, following a successful transaction from your own shopping cart, regardless of where it is hosted. Custom return pages can be created free-of-charge as outlined in this document. Shopping
Cart Integration.
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Email
Functions
Welcome Notices
When adding or editing a user or new eBook user, you have the option of sending an email message to that user. At the bottom of the edit page, there is a checkbox to tick and a message area. When ticked, whatever message that you type into the box will appear as a standard message added from a template to remind the user of their login details. To see how this works, you can try editing your own details (author status is required).
Newsletter Distribution
From your document menu, you can select a file to send as a newsletter. You have the option to select which users or groups to send to and which file format to send. The best practice is to send a test email to yourself first so that you can proofread your message and the output. If the message is found to be acceptable, simply click backspace to select the new recipients or group. The newsletter function is intended to send an attachment and is governed by the document that you select to initiate the process. However, if you want to send a newsletter without an attachment, you will have the option of removing that part from the page that presents a preview before sending.
Zipping Executables For Email
ZIP may or may not be available, depending on the server setup as it requires a server side DLL. On our DRM portal, ZIP is available and when this option is used, the recipient will receive the attached ENC document in ZIP format. Note: Using the ZIP option is strongly recommended as it will ensure that the recipient saves the file to disk, before unzipping. This is better than trying to open an ENC file from their mail client. Most mail clients who like Outlook Express only know about a limited range of file types and .ENC is not one of them. Trying to open one from a mail client will only result in error. Unless your users are familiar with CopySafe PDF documents, it may be best to eliminate the chance of error and always send them zipped.
Support Requests
Emails sent from within the portal will automatically be addressed to
the owner of that user's Group.
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Document
Delivery Options
Delivery By Email
You can deliver protected PDF (.ENC files) by email as attachments but
only if they have CopySafe PDF Reader version 3.0 installed will they be
able to open them direct from the mail client. it is possible that the recipient may have problems opening them direct from the email especially if the mail client especially if the user does not know what to do with an .ENC file.
If you have a lot of users still using version 2.0 Reader then it is
recommended to send any attachments in ZIP format.
What is ZIP? For those of the old school who don't use WinZip, 7Zip or
Rar, the latest versions of Windows include ZIP as standard. To ZIP a
file, right click on it and select "Sent to Compressed (Zip) folder". To
UnZip a file, right click on the file and select "Extract All".
Delivery By Download
Whether sending a download link by email or listing it on a web page, it
is most recommended to point to a zipped version of the file, unless you
are using the hyperlink that is provided from within your DRM Portal. For
example, the link to a non-zipped file should look like http://copysafe.net/drm/file.asp?tp=2&id=100001.
Here, a special web script (file.asp) is retrieving the document by ID
and providing it as a download to your web browser in chunks (especially
useful for large downloads). Without a function like this, a web server
will not know what to do with an ENC file and only deliver an error, especially considering that your protected documents are delivered from
below the site root.
So, unless you use the hyperlink as described above, you should send
all document downloads to zipped files.
As of version 3 CopySafe PDF Reader, ENC files sent as mail attachments
can be opened directly from most mail clients (if the reader is
installed).
Delivery On Disk
Your protected documents can also be distributed on disk. USB memory stick, CD or DVD disks are different ways to store and distribute your documents. When circulated on disk, your documents do not need to be zipped. For convenience, good practice includes providing a copy of the CopySafe PDF Reader installer and instructions or an index of your files, for example, a list of the Titles beside their file names. The CopySafe PDF Reader is a free download to the public and you have permission to include it in your distributions as long as the installer remains as provided by ArtistScope.
Delivery By Newsletter
Your protected documents can also be distributed from you DRM Control
Panel by using the Newsletter option. To send a document to one of your
users or a group of users, start from your document list and click on
the envelope icon in its table row. The next page will invite selection
of the user/s or group to be recipients and whether to send the .ENC
file attached or as a download link. Unless your subscribers are
experienced, it is strongly recommended to send the .ENC as a download
link. That way they will not try to open it directly from their mail client
and get into trouble (mail clients won't know what to do with .ENC
files). As a download, they should have the sense to save it to disk
first so that the CopySafe PDF Reader will be acknowledged as the
reader for this type of document.
Saving To Disk vs. Opening From The Web Or Mail
Client
If a user saves a document to their computer they will not have to
download it again, unlike when they open documents directly from the web
or their mail client. This is because when a document is opened directly
it is saved to a temporary folder (cache) for which there is no access
for re-use, except by downloading it all over again. The impact of this
phenomenon is that when saving to disk, they only download it once. But
when reading from online, they will download it every time they open it.
So if your document is a few MB then the persistent downloads can be
punishing to both your web service and the user's data usage.
Statistics & Reports
Statistics & Usage Counts
Authors can monitor and check the usage reports per document and user.
Those reports show each request for a document, who requested it and
when, including success or failure and even the reason for failure. Reports
also show when users have logged into the Control Panel. All admin
operations are also logged. Reports are paginated, sortable by column
and expandable. For example, clicking on a user in the recent documents
list will report all requests made by that user.
Purging Data
The maintenance and
removal of old and unwanted records is entirely the Author's
responsibility taking note that that removing records will affect
usage and print counts. To reset the usage count of a particular user,
sort the usage by user and then tick off the records to be
removed. Otherwise, the option for selecting all records on a page will
tick all checkboxes on that page.
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Administrator
Options
The Administrator is usually the main account and the owner of the DRM
Portal. Additional to options available to Authors, Administrators have
total control over all aspects including:
General Security Policy
General security policy can be managed by settings available in the
Administrator's Control Panel and how the portal scripts are configured.
From the Control Panel, admin can add and edit new groups, users and
documents. The portal's main settings file can be edited for all sorts
of common data such as the site's folder locations, database location,
page title and many more items that are common to the portal's web pages.
Author Management
Authors may add new users and give them permission to enable them to share author roles for management of their documents and users. However, the Administrator also has the right to suspend an Author account. When an author's account is suspended, all items such as the author's documents and users are also suspended, enabling the owner of the portal to police delinquent accounts that are naturally governed by usage fees, etc. During installation of ArtistScope DRM, especially when installed by the ArtistScope team, the DRM portal can be customized to suit any page design and security policy. For example, on this site, visitors can register for a "Demo" account which can be automatically activated by proving one’s identity via a challenge email. Demo users can then log in to evaluate the solution, but under limited conditions. Demo users cannot create new groups or publish any documents, except to the demo group and those documents and demo accounts are set to expire within 14 days. While they may still be able to log-in and use the Book Cover Designer, they lose access to all other document functions. This is an example of custom security policy and anything is possible by simply editing the scripts that manage those functions.
IP Ban & Networks Allowed
Users can be banned by IP number or network and exceptions to the rule
can also be set. For example, you can ban a network but permit an individual
IP number. Likewise, you can allow a network and ban a single IP from it.
For example, to ban an ISP you can set 100.100.100 or 100.100. You can
also set 100. but be warned that you will also ban any IP numbers or
networks that contain "100". In the main settings file for the DRM site
you can set to allow all networks except those listed, or deny all
networks except those listed.
Subscription Billing
Portal owners can add subscription billing by charging authors some fees.
The portal includes inbuilt options for monitoring and managing
subscriptions billed periodically (by month) or by usage (hits). In
either case, the owner should ensure that Authors pay their fees in advance.
Billing By Period
Periodic billing enables authors to have unlimited usage by paying a set rental fee for the month/period. Billing by period can be chargeable monthly, quarterly or yearly,
during which time the author/user has unlimited access. At the end of
the period, the account will need to be renewed to continue access to the
protected documents.
Billing By Validation Hits
Billing by "hits" measures the number of validations that an author's users perform, a "hit" means the request that is sent to the DRM portal every time a user opens a document. If an author is billed by "hits", then their account will credited for the number of hits
that were paid in advance.
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