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Making the Case for Document-Level PDF Rights Management

A decade ago, Adobe and future merger partner Glassbook published Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet, a 16,000-word short story, as the first major eBook. Its digital rights management (DRM) failed as hackers hacked, King got mad, Amazon ended up giving it away. The eBook—and DRM—suffered a brutally black eye.

About the same time, iTunes rose and record labels struggled to rein in MP3 music pirates, DRM as a technology got beat up badly, caught in a riptide between freethinking music consumers and bottom-line-oriented copyright owners.

Adobe, somewhat quietly, released a product called Policy Server (currently part of the LiveCycle Enterprise Suite), and later, Digital Editions, to rights-manage documents and eBooks. Even it wasn’t without hitches, as arguments over text-to-speech features erupted between publishers—who reap revenue from audio books—and advocates for visually impaired readers.

Yet despite the hard knocks DRM has taken in the mainstream media, DRM has become an essential technology of the electronic documents world, protecting and tracking use of business-critical data. Without it, PDF would never have supplanted paper as the standard electronic document. Most businesses have some content, somewhere, that needs some level of protection—be it sensitive internal data circulating among employees or external communications going out to customers and partners.

DRM in the PDF world can mean a lot of things, from simply password security to more elaborate schemes. Typically, though, the DRM decision involves considering the following issues:

• Overcoming software issues: Some vendors offer DRM, but PDFs can only be read in a custom viewer or in Acrobat Reader only after installing a custom plug-in. While these schemes can be effective, they offer a layer of inconvenience and pose tech-help issues for already stretched IT staffers.

• Track or disable pass-alongs: For proprietary content like research reports or e-books that took a considerable investment to assemble, limiting opening to one computer can be a good business model—if people pass it along, it stays locked but offers the recipient and opportunity to purchase an unlocking code. At minimum, document owners can block pass-along recipients from opening a document until they register an email, snail mail, and phone number to get to the content—making viral marketing a lead-generation tool.

• Deciding what level of protection the document warrants. Maybe everyone can look at it onscreen, but you should disable printing, copy/paste functions, or offline access.

• Expiring a document. DRM offers owners of catalogs or drafts of documents a way to expire or update a document, which comes in handy when, for example, you need the 2008 price list to be rendered inoperable. Or it’s not advantageous to have a draft of a contract or purchase agreement floating around a company’s email system.

One final decision, as always, involves analyzing costs. The main upside to setting up your own server for PDF DRM is that you maintain custody of your documents at all times during the process. A much less expensive option is purchasing DRM on a per-document basis from a trusted vendor, who can host your documents online and can administer the DRM on your behalf and let your company test-drive DRM or roll it out on a small scale for a limited set of documents.

Although some vendors offer one form of PDF DRM (hosted or server-side) or another, only Vitrium is doing both right now with ProtectedPDF, offering a cost-effective means to phase-in DRM based on need, with upgrades available when they become necessary.

Market Research Reports: Valuable Enough To Protect?

Usually individuals associate the term Market Research Report with descriptions such as robust, expensive, delayed, but also important and necessary. Market research reports are a fact of business and essential to certain industries. The amount of time and money allocated to even the smaller reports make these files very valuable.

Market research is defined as a grouped document of information used to make decisions. In most cases, to obtain a grouped document of information multiple individuals are reviewing it simultaneously, consistently passing versions and information between them. Do we ever think of the possibility of that document being lost, misplaced or mistakenly forwarded? Even when the report is complete the information is usually kept restricted to certain individuals internally.

If we compare the value of a market research report to other tangible items, we may be provoked into securing them in the same way. Think of the items that you own valued at more than one thousand dollars? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand? Do you secure these items? Do you lock your car and your house? Do you secure your jewelry? We can argue that certain information is more valuable than any tangible item any of us own. Does your file cabinet have a lock? My point is why are we not more careful with our PDF market research reports? During creation, secure them when passed internally. Upon completion, secure them as they are distributed to the necessary individuals.

A market research report can be one of the most important documents on your computer, treat it as one.

Protectedpdf can protect and track your market research reports. This tool will give you the piece of mind knowing that your valuable research will only be viewed on the screens you choose. There is also no additional plug-in required to view the document, so it will open just as any other PDF file.

When “Confidential” isn’t Good Enough: Preventing Unauthorized Distribution with PDF Watermarking

One of the tools that has emerged in the effort to keep confidential content from being distributed beyond its intended audience is PDF watermarking (sometimes referred to as PDF Stamping). PDF watermarking consists of placing text and/or images, often semitransparent, somewhere on the pages of a PDF document. The watermark may consist of a company logo, or a reminder to the recipient that the material is “Copyright”, “Not to be Redistributed” or “Confidential”. Although watermarks of this nature serve as a reminder to recipients, PDF watermarking of this kind does little to dissuade those whose respect for privacy and intellectual property leaves something to be desired.

To realize the full potential of PDF watermarking it is important that the watermark include the name, or some other identifying feature, of the recipient. For example, if John Smith, working on a film in development, is emailed a copy of the script, do you think Mr. Smith would be more likely to email it along to his friends or movie website if the watermark running across the pages of the PDF said “Confidential”, or if watermark read “This Script is Only to be Read by John Smith”. Although “Confidential” clearly spells out the intention of the distributor, John Smith can still be confident that if he does pass along the script, it is highly unlikely that he would ever be found to be the source of the script’s release. However, by individualizing the PDF watermark by name, John Smith is now accountable for keeping the script confidential. If John Smith were to pass it on, he would run the very real risk of having the script appear on the internet and having the leak traced back to him through the watermark it contains.

Although a movie script is used as an example, PDF watermarking would be just as effective for deterring unauthorized distribution for architectural designs, eBooks, and any other intellectual property or confidential material in PDF.

PDF Watermarking: think of it as the honor system with added incentive.

Online Textbooks the Solution to Educational Budget Cuts in California…?

It seems California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s answer to the states $24.3 billion deficit and significant educational budget cuts lies in technology! Instead of raising taxes to pay for the $350 Million in new textbooks for California State Schools, Arnold is looking to move to online textbooks, which costs a fraction of a printed textbook.

Moving to electronic textbooks in PDF format solves a lot of problems, like being cheaper and there are no version issues.  But what about protecting the publishers from textbooks being shared without authorization or copyright issues.  A PDF can be easily forwarded, what is stopping a school from buying one copy of a textbook and copying it for each student?

Do you think electronic textbooks in PDF format is the answer?

“Oops…” Leaked Confidential Internal Communications

In the age where every form of communication is digital and you’re finding more people opting for instant messages versus picking up the telephone, the opportunity for confidential information to get leaked is extremely high!

The consequences for a leaked PDF containing confidential information has gone far beyond the simply slap on the wrist. Companies will face hefty fines and a tainted reputation in the market place as being insecure.

There are ways to combat this issue and avoid the embarrassment of having company info leaked. Protectedpdf offers and PDF Protection and Tracking solution that is a perfect fit for this costly problem. Protectedpdf is a reader friendly PDF Protection solution that does not require any software downloads. Your reader will simply enter in their credentials and have access to the information. Also, with protectedpdf you can track how many times the PDF has been opened and by who.

Protectedpdf puts an end to these embarrassing leaks that are costing companies millions! To get your no risk free trial today check out www.protectedpdf.com

You Dont Need to Be Online Anymore to get Effective PDF Protection

Vitrium Systems offers new telephone unlock feature in protectedpdf Small Business Edition V2

DRM: The Good The Bad and The Ugly

I read the article  posted on April 20^th, 2009 – “Who benefits from DRM?”  (http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/doctorows-law)

While I agree with the article in principle, I’m not convinced that DRM is all “bad.”  I do, however, believe the underlying philosophy behind DRM and how DRM solutions are sold is seriously flawed.

The facts:

• Publishers and distributors of electronic content have the right to protect their IP and their profits.
• Readers of electronic content have the right to own what they purchase and enjoy a hassle-free experience.

The problem:

• The “all-or-nothing” approach to DRM.
• The lack of thought leadership in this space.
• The dishonesty and lack of disclosure.

The solution:

• Seek less intrusive alternatives.  If you distribute electronic content, it doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing i.e. hardcore DRM versus no DRM at all.  You don’t need to tie yourself down to certain file format or even a certain rendering device.  There are other solutions that provide a happy medium such as Vitrium’s protectedpdf (selfish plug – sorry).

• Be a leader.  If you are a DRM solution provider you need to:

• • Clearly identify the benefits of your solution and be completely honest with your clients about the associated risks:

• • • Can the security solution be circumvented?
    • What can the reader expect when they receive protected files?
    • What happens to the protected files if the protection service is discontinued? I wonder if Fiction wise knew what would happen before they pulled the plug on their DRM solution or if they set the proper expectations with their clients.

• Recommend alternatives.  Distributing electronic content offers obvious benefits to both the reader and the publisher so there are areas were some sacrifice can be made and even expected.

For instance, by distributing content electronically the publisher and reader benefit from faster delivery and reduced fees.  As a publisher, if you plan to use a DRM solution, why not enforce a shelf-life on protected files?  Who said an e-Book or a Newsletter should live for ever?

From a reader’s perspective, maybe they are ok paying a little less for an electronic copy because of a truncated shelf-life, 2-3 years for example.  Heck, the publisher might even allow them to print a copy for reference before the document expires.

This approach allows the publisher to maintain their margins, they don’t have to have a life-long subscription to a DRM service, and the readers are fully aware that the document will expire.  This may not work in every situation, but neither does DRM (smile).

• Be prepared to say no.  If the client and reader requirements are not a match, do not force them to buy your solution.

I know there is a little Sales 101 mixed into my suggestions, but sometimes we lose sight of the basics.

Anyways, great article.  I hope you can appreciate a difference of opinion even if I have a vested interest in DRM succeeding.

One more selfish plug…you can see our solution in action at www.protectedpdf.com.

PDFzone Cover Story…

http://www.pdfzone.com/c/a/Authoring/Vitrium-Unleashes-Version-2-of-PDF-DRM-for-the-Masses/

The Truth About Installers in PDF Security Solutions

For those of us who build software, creating a new software product is usually fun and exciting. There are new challenges, the opportunity to use new tools and techniques, and there is a special thrill of seeing something work for the first time. But unless you have the luxury of building software solely for your own entertainment, once you’ve got that great new product built, you have to figure out how to get it to your customers. At Vitrium, much of the software that we build is web-based, so the issue of delivering software to our users is really just one of ensuring browser compatibility.

But if you work at a company that delivers software for the desktop, you typically have to build an installer — a second piece of software whose job is to get your actual software successfully running on the users’ machines. There is no joy in writing in installers. I’ve worked at companies where we had to build installers for our software, and it’s amazing how much time and effort was required to build and maintain them.

The reason for that is that the installer is a piece of software whose primary responsibility is to deal with the idiosyncrasies of the millions of computers out there. Different operating systems, different utilities, firewalls, proxy servers, pieces of software that have been removed or modified by the user — the list goes on. These are all things that could potentially cause your software not to work on a given computer. So the installer has to identify and, where possible, resolve these problems. And no matter how hard you try, there will always be a steady stream of issues that come up: combinations of software that the installer doesn’t handle, configurations that have never been seen before, software versions that behave in subtly different ways, even gracefully handling upgrading from previous versions of your own software.

That’s why, at Vitrium, it has always been our goal to produce software that doesn’t need installers. Our applications are delivered over the web. The PDF’s produced by our products use standard Adobe software that already exists on almost every computer on the planet. The result is that we have essentially no support costs related to getting our products onto people’s computers. And that is good for us, and for our customers.

Go Green With eBooks

1. No Paper: eBooks are “green” because it doesn’t require printing unless you really want to print it to read it. You can read your eBook fully online or through the new hand held eBook readers that let you carry a large amount of eBooks around in a digital format.

2. Easily updated: Instead of having to reprint a whole book you can easily update your eBooks but simply going into the file, making the update, reconverting the eBook to PDF and uploading it again to the site. No full printing of the book again saving a lot of paper.

3. Less ink. eBooks are green because they use less ink than required in a printing process. Printing books requires more colored inks too. You can use colorful illustrations in an eBook that don’t have to be printed in color and save on that resource. Even if your readers choose to print, they can do so on grayscale instead of using colored ink.

4. Protect Profits. Now eBooks can be protected from piracy eliminating lost profits by using a PDF protection system, like protectedpdf.  Unlike other PDF protection technologies, protectedpdf does not make it difficult for legitimate readers to access your PDFs. Authorized readers can view your protected documents using Adobe Reader V6.0 or higher, just like normal PDFs. There is no need for readers to download any special plug-ins, proprietary readers, viewers or other additional software.

5. Printing Costs. eBooks are definitely green because they save on the process of using the printing press to create a book. You don’t have to use the electricity or employee power to print an eBook as it is delivered directly to the desktop or eBook reader of the person reading the book.

6. No Inventory. You don’t have to stockpile eBooks. They are the real print-on-demand type of writing that can be downloaded when the person needs and want it.  No inventory means no wasted printing or use of storage space.