Protecting PDF Files

This one?

PDF Protection: Protect/Secure PDF Files & Document with PDF DRM Security - LockLizard

Martin

Instead of protecting your pdf product, why don't you put your name, a hyperlink to link back to your website(hopefully a squeeze page), and something valuable inside which that you are forcing them to advertise for you when they share it?

Martin, Thanks, that looks good, but was hoping for a cheaper solution

Ed, because the point of the project is to make money from selling it. And is very important that it is not shared.

As mentioned above:

"It is important, that once someone has downloaded that they can't just share it with their friends."

Hi Ben,

I understand your concern, as well as your desire to make as much money possible. However, in my experience, it's not really a big problem. In fact, putting in too much protection actually causes more problems for honest, paying customers.

How many people do you think will share your PDF if it isn't protected? 5%? 10%? 20%? Personally, I think 20% is a high estimate, but even if 20% DO share, you would be inconveniencing 80% of your customers. Furthermore, you would be sending the message to 100% of your customers that you don't trust them (consciously or subconsciously).

Also, the more protections you put into place, the more likely a few people will try to crack that protection AND share it on download sites. They will see you as greedy, and will actually go out of their way to share your book with an entire community, as opposed to one or two friends.

Include a few logical and relevant forms of monetization in your guide and then release it for sale.

You run the risk of alienating your honest customers with too much protection, and that can lead to refunds.

Believe it or not, sharing just isn't that big of a problem. While you may think "protection" will generate more sales, the better bet is to focus on ways to generate more sales in other ways (such as ad buys, JVs, and creative marketing).

All the best,
Michael

Thanks Michael for you answer and totally understand where you are coming from. However, this is not the IM market or anything like that. And with this particular product it does make a massive difference if someone shares with someone else. And even more, they are likely to if it is not protected.

Impossible.

A PDF can be shared by anyone no matter what you do to it. Sure you can make it a little bit harder for them but all it takes is for someone to do a screenshot or cut and paste of the content in the protected file and they can then go and share their own copy of the same content. Protection won't stop that from happening.

If you allow someone to watch or read your content then it can always be shared and there is absolutely nothing you can do to eliminate that problem. Unfortunate but them's the facts,

For years I've been looking for something like that also.

I've spoken to dozens of programmers and no on has ever come up with a proper solution.

And converting a PDF to an .exe file, is 'old thinking'

So I changed my approach and thinking a little.

I now embed all my PDF eBooks with a function that forces anyone who wants to read my eBook to have to give their name and email BEFORE the can open and read it.

If they don't give their name and email, then the PDF won't open, so they don't get to read it.
So if anyone 'steals' my eBook, at least I get their name and email added to my list before the can see the content.

Sure, it's not the ideal solution but I'm building my list faster than I have ever done, and it definitely put a roadblock in the way of eBook thieves

Actually, this is not a natural way of selling books. Traditionally, if you buy a book you are not limited to where you can read it (only one computer equals only behind the desk), and you can also lend it to your friends. This is what people expect of books. If you succeed in modifying your PDF in a way that it becomes in principle a disposable single-use item, they expect it to be cheap. Very cheap.

I used Vitrium Systems, Inc "Protected PDF" for this purpose but they are quite spendy.

I hate to say it, but Michael Oksa is right. There is only ****ONE**** way to protect a standard PDF, and that was broken some time ago. The cracker was thrown in jail, etc... and the software has been banned, but you KNOW people can get it. If I say simply ROT13, you are half way there.

So what of Martin Luxton's solution? It isn't PDF! It relegates the self contained PDF to a storage device, and requires a program that is only supported on windows and mac. What of android? What of Linux? What of the THOUSANDS of devices based on them? I have 2 ebook readers, and they can BOTH read PDFs, but NOT this one.

I can't speak to the vitrium product, but the subscription model seems odd, and it IS expensive.

Steve

I don't understand this mentality. I know things I've sold get shared all the time. I also know by putting a link in it back to another offer (that is tracked) I've gotten more sales from my purchased product (that I know was being shared illegally) that more than covered the initial selling price. Free advertisement. Locking content down hard core for those honest people who do buy your product, only turns them off. No one likes to be treated like an idiot thief. I highly suggest you just throw a tracking link back to another offer, or if you have to an a-hole then look into making it only viewable through adobe air or something.

Good luck.

Be well,

Lane

I"ve been selling jazz music charts (password protected) as PDF files for 10 years and I've found there is really no way you can protect from someone if they want to steal your stuff.

That being said, the vast majority of people are honest and don't rip you off, but there will be people that do. No matter what protection you have on a file, all someone has to do is print the file to a hard copy then scan it to PDF again. IM is no different than a retail store - you will get ripped off, but life is short so don't worry about it so much.

So, I have actually been using the protection that is provided by drm-x.com and generally it is pretty good apart from some minor bugs.

The way that they do it, is to have their own PDF reader which has some sort of decrypter for PDFs which have been created with their software. That reader is available on IOS and Android and Mac and Windows etc.

It is pretty foolproof that someone won't be able to open it unless they have purchased it or know someone who has purchased. However, once you have purchased it, it is not that hard to then share it with friends with a bit of trickery which I don't really want to mention in an open forum.

One of the problems I foresee with Glen's solution, is that if I was knowingly stealing a PDF without paying for it, then I would put in a fake email address.

Seeing how drm-x's solution works, I don't see that it would be so hard to replicate the functionality. In essence, all it does it to phone home to a database to see if the user has permission or not to view/open the file.

B

One thing i thought of, but have never seen, is to create the pdf dynamically upon purchase by inserting a watermark which consists of the name, address and credit card number used to purchase. Might want to seek legal advice first...

Yes, I agree with GlenH.
We are not in this topic to find out a solution to protect our ebook/pdf 100%, but to find a solution that is cheap and can protect our work to some extent. In short, it's reasonable to our Goal and Budget.
I plan to build list by giving away a free ebook, so I prefer the solution of GlenH as anyone who opens the file will have to leave their emails as well. Could you let me know the tool that you use, GlenH? How could I make it work the same as you do?
Many thanks

Set up your PDF in such a way where you can password protect it and can only be opened once on a specific IP, I think the Angela Edwards backlinks packet does that, you can ask her about it, she's here in WF too.

VaySoft PDF to EXE Converter,PDF2EXE,PDF TO EXE,Protect PDF,PDF Encryption, PDF Encryption

Vaysofts solution is ok and locks the PDF to one single computer ID. There are various configurable options.

Of course, it won't stop the hardcore crackers, but most will be prevented from sharing and that's all you can ask.

There is a way to add digital signatures via adobe acrobat, this can restrict to a single user and compueter, but I've never worked out how to do that. You could research this though as it will be a solution for you.

If your product is good enough then people copying it won't make a huge difference to your sales. You'll be selling enough not to worry about who is copying or sharing it.
I used to think how I could lock my pdf down, but in the end I decided it's not worth all the hassle.

The fact is simply that if you stray from PDF, it becomes less useful and portable. The protection it has is cheap and already broken.

It IS amazing how everything has gone round robin. everyone and his brother was doing this before 1985. They eventually gave up. Oh yeah, many now have a try and license model, but even THAT isn't perfect. Of course, they don't limit the use of the product on a given platform, or bog it down. Versions before about 1985 typically didn't even allow backups!

Steve

Quote:
Originally Posted by BenShaffer
Well, your facts are wrong. For example, see Martin's link

LOL! So very true. You may not have the knowledge but, others do.

I found that a useful deterrent to people who might want to share your product is to add a watermark or footer on each page that includes each buyer's name, email address, date of purchase etc. That helps.

If you google "how to copy "locked" pdf's, and look at the number of hits it generates, you will get some idea of stopping that kind of thing. You can make it harder, but that means harder on your customers as well.

Good luck, Ed

I use this: WP PDF Stamper Plugin | Tips and Tricks (non-affiliate link) along with the membership and shopping cart plugins from the same site.

It doesn't prevent sharing, but with printing disabled and a protected file, it means I will always know who shared the file, and with name/address/e-mail all pulled from PayPal, I will always know who posted on a public site.

I actually stamp the info in white text, so it's invisible to the user. If they post a public link, getting them to remove it is pretty damn easy once you let them know that they are also sharing their name, address, and PayPal account details

Just beware: the membership and shopkng cart plugins from that site are awesome and have multi-site licenses, but the stamper can only be used on a single domain.

DLGuard is a good solution, but once someone downloads your PDF, it's tough to prevent them from sharing it with friends or posting it on their site or a file download site.

After over 10 years of marketing information products
online I've found that your products are not as valuable
as YOU think. There are not these many people who
want to steal your product as you think.

So it's just better to think about delivering value than
"over protecting" your products.

I once used the PDF password feature to protect one
of my product and then I forgot the password. It's
a good thing I still had the original WORD document
from which I could republish the book, then I removed
the password protection.

-Ray Edwards