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Helmut33556138gdb1
Participant
November 12, 2023
Question

Enhanced protection for pdf documents

  • November 12, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1310 views

Enhanced protection for pdf documents

 

I am the author of a technical textbook. Up to now, I have had one edition printed, stored it at home and sent the copies to customers. I no longer want to continue this procedure, but would like to replace it by individually selling and sending a PDF document. It is 15 megabytes in size.

I have convinced myself that PDFs can be password-protected and that individual options such as printing or copying content can be locked. The numerous tips on how to do this are far outnumbered by the number of tips on how the owner of the password can remove all these locks so that the work can be redistributed unhindered. I have convinced myself that these tips work. This kind of "protection" is so easy to remove that I don't feel my copyrights are protected.

My question: Can I protect pdf documents in such a way as to achieve a level of protection similar to that of commercially available ebooks? I would be grateful for links to instructions.

 

Regards

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2 replies

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
November 12, 2023

If you apply both a file-open and a file-edit policy (using different passwords, of course) it will provide a pretty good level of protection. Of course, nothing can prevent someone from sharing the file with the password and give it to someone else... And one will always be able to take screenshots (or photos) of the pages to copy them if they wanted to, but that's true for everything. In short, there's no 100% secure solution. It's a balance of how much you're willing to spend vs. how strong of a protection you want to have.

    H
    Helmut33556138gdb1Author
    Participant
    November 13, 2023

    Many thanks for your answers!
    I have now convinced myself that any protection can be removed with relatively little effort and knowledge. The apps that allow protection also offer to "crack" it in the same menu, a bizarre, schizophrenic offer as I understand it. I think the (by no means perfect) solution for me will be to protect the pdf with a user and owner password and also individualize it with the buyer's name and email address or account number.

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    Helmut33556138gdb1Author
    Participant
    November 13, 2023

    One further question: Could you kindly recommend an offline app for user and owner password definition? If it is no freeware it should be a one time purchase.

    Abambo
    Community Expert
    AbamboCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 12, 2023

    You will need a DRM system. If you want to protect your PDF files similarly to e-books, you need to use the same technology. There is no such thing than a free meal. The protection to your documents is what you apply to it. Search for DRM. https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/digital-rights-management

    ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
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