[xuroth]

Essentially, I have a "book" that I want to sell digital copies of. I do not want people to be able to just copy the file and share it with their friends. I have thought about pdf security (which I hear is a joke) and simple password access, but I realize that people then would simply just post their password and the file itself. No matter what, there is no way to completely secure a file. I know that with proper determination, a "hacker" could bypass the security. I am looking for a solution that will simply deter all but the most determined of thieves. The only thing I can think would be viable, if difficult, is to create a program that can view an online file. the program would require a user account and the user account would be issued registration codes for the books they purchase. This would enable them to only view, not download, the material they have paid for access to. Can anyone else think of a solution? it must follow these guidelines:

-must not download the files (to prevent copies being made)
-must allow only users who have purchased a title to view only the titles they have paid for
-must allow users to have multiple titles to pay for

Essentially, I just want to minimize copying so I can retain sales. what should/could I do to enforce this?

I do not posess any scripting/programming knowledge, but I realize that ready-made applications are a mere fantasy. Im not afraid to "get my hands dirty" to accomplish this, but I want to minimize the cost of applying security to these books as I am already short on funds from other related costs.

[Ent]

If I may add to your list, you don't want a solution that will get in your reader's way. Your object is to maximize sales by avoiding thefts, but you won't be doing that if you annoy 80% of your initial the reader base with security measures and make your work generally unpopular.

[watp]

It's not full proof, but you could use an eCommerce application that once your customer has purchased, they click a link which hides the PDF location. The link could be randomly generated, and once visited, you could set the database so it is no longer accessible.

Some digital download providers:
http://www.scriptboxer.com (my friend uses them)
http://www.deliveryscript.com/ - Self Hosted
http://www.digitalgoodsstore.com/ - Self Hosted
http://swreg.org

[Ent]

Sounds like a good move for the distribution phase. That solution still wouldn't stop people from copying the PDF from one machine to another though, once one customer has downloaded it.

[oksteve]

I think at some point your going to have to accept that your work is going to be copied and that there is no foolproof method of stopping that, as long as the ratio of buying to copying is far higher.
I just read somewhere that an E book just sold a million copies on iTunes....amazing !
Have you considered contacting iTunes about your dilemma ?

[xuroth]

Well I plan on opening sales for only a short amount of time. Periodically I'll reopen it similar to how nintendo does their events for the pokemon games. Is there a way to prevent pdf's from being copied? I do accept people will copy it. I just Want to minimize the theft. But the ebooks info will be limited in usefulness unless they buy the next in the series.

[watp]

I had another think, and while it's a wee bit extreme, it would still combat copying.

Instead of linking to a .PDF file, you create a small app (in Visual Basic or whatever) which requires the customer to enter their username and password for your website on first use. Once you validate their details, it saves it as activated in the settings and in your database updates the row to prevent further activations. The content of the PDF then opens up in the exe.

Extreme, but it would probably work.

[dvk01]

you can use secure PDF form somewhere like http://www.locklizard.com/pdf_security_viewer.htm

Note: there are numerous companies using secure pdf format wihich allows restrictions like you want

I don't know if locklizard are one of the better ones but have used them as an example

doa search on your favourite search engine for secure pdf