how do people copy-protect their PDFs?

[Sharon Burton]

ebooks? All these issues are solved if you publish to Amazon and bn.com.
They manage all the DRM and selling and all that stuff. 


sharon

Sharon Burton
951-369-8590
www.sharonburton.com
Twitter: sharonburton
Author of 8 Steps to Amazing Webinars, 
available on Amazon and bn.com

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Carol J. Elkins
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 3:26 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: how do people copy-protect their PDFs?

Hi Alison,

So far, the only response has been from someone who uses LiveCycle Designer
for forms but has no experience with it for ecommerce. Like you, I use
Acrobat security for PDFs to prevent changing the docs or copying the
content to clipboard, but it cannot prevent copying the entire file. For
instance, Company Z has in the past purchased 200 PDF versions of a book of
regulatory standards. My client wants to prevent Company Z from simply
making copies of the PDF instead of buying all 200 copies. Multiply that by
thousands of ecommerce customers to understand the potential revenue that
can be lost.

My client also wants to begin selling individual standards in addition to
books of standards, much like IEEE does with its Xplore Digital Library
Subscription Service
(http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/subscriptions/ieee_
standards_online_subscription_information.pdf). 
I have no clue where to begin to research how to accomplish the DRM for
this, but I know it is not something in a Technical Writer's general tool
kit. Several years ago I read about dongles, encryption, and password
management systems, but from a user's perspective they are a burden. I want
to find a resource/service that makes it easy to purchase and download a PDF
and hard/impossible to copy the PDF. 
Minimally, I'd like to be able to tell my client how other companies do
this; if it is impossible to protect the PDF, then at least he'll know he's
in good company.

If anyone knows of other solutions to accomplish this, I'd appreciate your
insight. I'm treading way outside my skillset here but would like to be able
to give my client some basic direction. I wanted to ask fellow Framers
first; then I'll move on to the LiveCycle forum or whatever direction you
folks point me in.

Carol

At 03:21 PM 5/6/2013, Alison Craig wrote:
>I think that's an excellent question. Could you post answers on-list or 
>forward copies to me?
>
>Right now I just use standard Adobe Acrobat security for my Frame 
>generated PDFs (I need printable and digital manuals for the Medical 
>Device industry). But we all know how easy that is to crack.

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