can you do a browser check for the acrobat plugin and redirect if false
?



[EMAIL PROTECTED] (John Dowdell) on 01/30/2002 03:11:27 PM

Please respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To:   CF-Talk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc:

Subject:  Re: OT: pdf


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 w
ay...
both are publicly documented, and both contain bits which set permissio
n
levels. But not all PDF or SWF readers have to respect those permissi
on
levels. You can print an "unprintable" PDF by opening it in GhostScri
pt or
other PDF readers.

(I haven't used GhostScript myself, but have read enough accounts to fe
el
confident of this understanding.)

The Adobe E-books strategy used a level of encryption beyond this. Bu
t once
it was unencrypted for reading, the content could then have its permiss
ion
levels bypassed in the usual way. This was the essence of the "Free D
mitry"
case... someone who purchased an ecryption key then had full acce
ss 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 w
ould
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
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