On 3/28/2012 5:02 PM, Mark D Lew wrote: > << 2. Adam Engst (TidBITS founder) was kind enough to offer some advice: > don't bother password protecting your PDFs -- they're easily removed.>> > > I'm not sure I agree with that. > > Although it's true that someone who wants to remove a password can easily do > so, it still sets up a situation where it requires a deliberate effort. > > It's the same idea as putting up a small fence and a "no trespassing" sign. > Anyone who wants to get in can easily ignore the sign and hop over the fence, > but then they'll know they're going somewhere they're not supposed to. > > With an unprotected PDF, a lazy or thoughtless person -- and face it, most of > us are lazy or thoughtless at least some of the time -- might just assume > it's a free document to be printed or passed around at will. When they're > asked for a password, they'll know that its supposed to be proprietary. >
And when asked for a password by a friend with whom they have shared the PDF file, most people will say, "oh sorry, I forgot, here it is . . ." and will share the password as well. Face it, people are either going to be moral about it or they won't be. And with digital formats, there's no way to enforce morality. And with all-in-one printers with scanning/copying capabilities far superior to the early copy machines, sitting on many people's desks, there's nothing to prevent people from even casually sharing copies of anything. Which means that reasonable pricing and reasonable availability which makes it easy and reasonable for everybody to buy their own copy rather than share copies (such as has been the fallout of the recorded music industry) is the best remedy. -- David H. Bailey dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
