At 5:39 AM 1/29/2, Steven Dworman wrote: > A client has an extremely important pdf that they want locked down. > What this means is that they want to burn it on a cd, make the cd > copy protected, and not allow the user to save the file after it's > been opened. On top of that they want to prevent the user from > doing a "select all" "copy" "paste". Can this be done?
Sorry, I don't think so. The PDF format is like the SWF format this way... both are publicly documented, and both contain bits which set permission levels. But not all PDF or SWF readers have to respect those permission levels. You can print an "unprintable" PDF by opening it in GhostScript or other PDF readers. (I haven't used GhostScript myself, but have read enough accounts to feel confident of this understanding.) The Adobe E-books strategy used a level of encryption beyond this. But once it was unencrypted for reading, the content could then have its permission levels bypassed in the usual way. This was the essence of the "Free Dmitry" case... someone who purchased an ecryption key then had full access to the materials and could copy it. If the client is concerned with someone copying the meat of the presentation, then would it work to turn that text into a bunch of GIFs? This would lose the text characters, and anyone who wanted to copy it would have to send either a bunch of large image files or else retype it by hand... you wouldn't make it impossible to copy, just would make it more expensive to copy. If you *had* to have protection, then making a unique copy of the text for each user could let you trace down the custody chain of any purloined copy... again, this wouldn't prevent misappropriation, but would let you see who you should not have trusted. Sorry, no firm leads, but does this type of info help your client...? jd John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US Search technotes: http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/ Offlist email risks capture by the spam filters. I may not see your email if it's not on the list. Private one-on-one email options are available via Priority Access: http://www.macromedia.com/support/ ______________________________________________________________________ Get Your Own Dedicated Windows 2000 Server PIII 800 / 256 MB RAM / 40 GB HD / 20 GB MO/XFER Instant Activation · $99/Month · Free Setup http://www.pennyhost.com/redirect.cfm?adcode=coldfusionb FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-talk@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
