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Do PDF ebooks need to be "protected"?

by Kwerk
6 replies
By this, I'm not asking how to prevent piracy and free downloads as I understand there's solutions (e.g., ebookpro) for that.

This is a question about preventing the editing of PDFs. I don't want people to buy it or find a free version from a filesharing site, go in and change the affiliate links in it from my aff code to their own, then re-sell it or redistribute it with their own aff links. Or at least I'd like it to be difficult enough that this will be very unlikely to happen.

If I understand the mechanics of PDFs correctly, they can't really be edited in standard software like Word or OpenOffice Write so they have a degree of inherent protection; you have to have Adobe Acrobat Pro which most people don't have, or you need to get special software that is not widely known, to convert the PDF back to Word or text format. I believe PDFs are inherently "uneditable" in this way whether they're saved into PDF from older versions of Word with Acrobat Distiller or PDF Creator (or the built-in PDF save option in later Word versions), or whether they're created using OpenOffice Writer and saved as PDF. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

Is there any method that I ought to be using to protect the goods? Or do most ebook authors who are not extremely worried about plain old piracy just write them in Word or OpenOffice, save them as a regular PDF, and that's that?

Really, having my book become ubiquitous because of piracy would probably be a good thing, unless it's been edited and thrown back into the wild so I can't make residual income from the aff links and my own squeeze page URL within it.
#ebooks #pdf #protected
  • Profile picture of the author schttrj
    Check this article:

    PDF Engines and Copyright Infringement: How to Stop Them | All Freelance Writing
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    • Profile picture of the author iansinfo
      If you are so concerned you could set up a membership site where the only way to get access is by reading it online Not very practical but your stuff will never be tampered with
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by iansinfo View Post

        If you are so concerned you could set up a membership site where the only way to get access is by reading it online Not very practical but your stuff will never be tampered with
        Not true. You cannot stop anyone from sharing your content - it's impossible. Whether it's a video, an audio, a pdf, or a software program, if people want to share it they will do so.

        If you lock your content in a membership site what is stopping me from taking screenshots or re-writing the content myself and then distributing it? If it's videos then what is stopping me from doing a screencast of the video and sharing that?

        If anyone else online can see or hear your content then you always run the risk of having your content ripped off - it's just part of the game.
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  • Profile picture of the author Elion Makkink
    If you secure them in a way people are less able to copy content of your ebook, than you will reduce the amount of content that is copied from yours
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    Cheers,
    Elion Makkink

    Become an SEO Hustler too at seohustlers.com

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  • Profile picture of the author Kwerk
    Good points, WillR. I don't mind too much if my PDF winds up in other people's hands, as long as it's not modified so that my website, my name, and aff links are changed to someone else's. If it's hard to do that, very few will make the effort. Sounds like I really don't need to worry too much about protecting it from modification since it's pretty hard to do, and I can use the tips from schttrj's link to cut down on the piracy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce Smith
    The major fact here is that ebook can't be protected from being distributed and downloaded by people who haven’t paid for it. Well, that's a sad fact.

    Once you’ve sold a copy of your e-book to someone they could turn around and e-mail it to their friends. Or they could put it on their website and make it available for everyone to download.

    What you can do is to include a copyright statement. At the very beginning of your e-book you should include a simple and direct copyright statement explains that your e-book is not free and may not be sold or otherwise distributed to others. At least, doing this will decrease the number of people distributing your e-book.

    Or the best option is to make people register. One thing you could do is require people to register their e-mail address and create a password when they buy your e-book. After they have registered they can download the e-book and in order to open the it they have to put in their e-mail address and password.
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