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How to prevent downloading my ebooks and videos (and only allow viewing in members area)?

by TheWebGuy
18 replies
Hey Warriors,

I was wondering how you all would prevent customers from downloading ebooks and videos in a members area? After they purchase the product, I want them to have unlimited access to the products in my member's area; however, if they return it they lose access to the videos and ebooks in the password protected members area. The only way they keep access to the product is therefore by not returning the product and keeping their unique username/pw in my member's area (so they can't just download the product then return it).

I also want to prevent copycat products from copying and pasting my ebooks so easily...


How would you recommend doing this? I've actually been thinking about ditching the .pdf format for the ebooks and instead turning them into webpages (where the webpage is harder for people to download) or embedding the .pdf into some kind of ebooks viewer in the member's area (so when people look in the source code they can't see where to download the ebook).

I've seen some people using .asp files to display their ebooks now but I'm not sure how that is used exactly (and I'm not a programmer) ...and I've also seen how people are using pop out/embedding options that prevent someone from seeing where the actual file is located...

Basically, whatever options I use for the videos and ebooks, I want this:


1) Can't be downloaded (so the member must remain an active member after paying to maintain access to the videos and reports/ebooks).

2) The ebooks can't be copy and pasted as easily.

3) The location (and therefore the download link) for the .pdfs (or reports) and the video files must be hidden in the source code.


Do you all have any recommendations for this? (also keep in mind that I'm not a programmer). Thanks a lot. I really appreciate any suggestions or help anyone can provide.
#area #downloading #ebooks #members #prevent #product protection #protect content #protect ebook #protect ebook theft #protect your product #videos #viewing
  • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
    I hate to break it to you, but it's simply not possible to prevent someone from copying a digital info-product. Even if you attempt to hide the URL's of the actual files... as long as the videos / ebooks can be "seen on the screen", they can easily be copied with screen capture software.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheWebGuy
    Thanks for your response...

    I know they can be captured with a screen capture software ...However, typically the sound quality/video quality/or ebooks .jpg from screen captures looks/sounds bad. So I won't bother trying to prevent this...

    However, anyone else have any other suggestions for my original question?
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      Originally Posted by TheWebGuy View Post

      typically the sound quality/video quality/or ebooks .jpg from screen captures looks/sounds bad.
      Don't know where you heard that... as long as you use the right settings in your screen capture software, you can make the copies look every bit as good as the originals.

      The only thing you can do that might slightly reduce the percentage of your customers who copy your products, is to mask the real URL of the files using PHP (Google "PHP mask file location"). Even that is only going to prevent the laziest, least tech-savvy of the thieves though, because anyone who is even slightly tech-savvy will know how to find the URLs of your files in 2 seconds, using Firebug (or similar software). And for anyone who is not tech-savvy, they can just use a screen capture program.

      So in my opinion, trying to mask your file URL's in order to prevent people from downloading them is going to be about as useful as NOT locking the front door to your house at night, and then putting a sign on it that says "Attention thieves: this door is locked, so don't bother trying to come inside".

      My 2 cents.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

        Don't know where you heard that... as long as you use the right settings in your screen capture software, you can make the copies look every bit as good as the originals.
        I would LOVE to see how you could do THAT. If you somehow had PDFs display in a way such that only screen captures could be made, you would have to have some really fancy program to analyze vectors, etc... and you could STILL lose detail! GRANTED a person might not care, etc... but the quality would NOT be there. There are problems in scaling bit mapped images/fonts, and a screen capture would only do THAT. PDFs, on the other hand, can store things as vectored. Of course, PDFs are only an example, since they are rendered on the client and could thus be copied in whole. But THAT is not a screen capture.

        As for the original question, the cgi-bin is generally NOT accessible for things like PDFs, GIFs, etc... You could store them there and people would be forced to go through programs YOU control to get the files the first time. Of course, there ARE always ways to get around copy restrictions.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          I would LOVE to see how you could do THAT. If you somehow had PDFs display in a way such that only screen captures could be made, you would have to have some really fancy program to analyze vectors, etc... and you could STILL lose detail!
          I'm not sure what you're talking about, Steve. Anytime you take a screenshot of anything on a screen (be it a PDF page, an image, or whatever)... if you save it in BMP format (uncompressed), there will be no loss of quality. Even if you save it in the much lighter PNG format, there will not be any discernible loss in quality.

          And if you're doing a screen capture video... if you render it to uncompressed avi format and set the frame rate to the same as the original, there will be no loss of quality in the rendered video.

          Of course, anytime you render to uncompressed formats, you get huge file sizes. But that's a whole 'nother topic.
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          • Profile picture of the author ronrule
            Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

            I'm not sure what you're talking about, Steve. Anytime you take a screenshot of anything on a screen (be it a PDF page, an image, or whatever)... if you save it in BMP format (uncompressed), there will be no loss of quality. Even if you save it in the much lighter PNG format, there will not be any discernible loss in quality.

            And if you're doing a screen capture video... if you render it to uncompressed avi format and set the frame rate to the same as the original, there will be no loss of quality in the rendered video.

            Of course, anytime you render to uncompressed formats, you get huge file sizes. But that's a whole 'nother topic.
            What he's referring to is the saving of vector information, it isn't possible with a screencap. A screencap will only be able to save it exactly as it appears, as the resolution it's currently displayed, as a fixed image, but not the vector info that lets it scale infinitely.
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            Ron Rule
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            • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
              Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

              What he's referring to is the saving of vector information, it isn't possible with a screencap. A screencap will only be able to save it exactly as it appears, as the resolution it's currently displayed, as a fixed image, but not the vector info that lets it scale infinitely.
              We're talking about two completely different things then. I was simply referring to the output quality of a screenshot image or screen capture video.

              But while we're on the subject, it is possible to convert a fixed image into a scalable vector image (using Adobe Illustrator, Vector Magic, etc). I think most content thieves could care less whether or not the ripped product is "scalable" though... they just want the info from the product.
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              • Profile picture of the author ronrule
                Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

                We're talking about two completely different things then. I was simply referring to the output quality of a screenshot image or screen capture video.

                But while we're on the subject, it is possible to convert a fixed image into a scalable vector image (using Adobe Illustrator, Vector Magic, etc). I think most content thieves could care less whether or not the ripped product is "scalable" though... they just want the info from the product.
                It's also possible to re-type an entire book...

                You're still thinking in nerd mode... most content thieves aren't. They aren't going to trace images and convert them to vector etc., it's not worth the time it will take when they could pirate and re-sell someone else's stuff more easily.

                If someone wants to plagarize/share, they will. But there are levels which I think was the original point. Locking your car at night will keep casual thieves from opening the door and looking around. It won't stop someone determined to get in, but it will make the casual thief move on to someone else's car.

                The problem with selling books and strategy guides in PDF form is that once someone has it on their PC, it's easy to share or re-sell. And because it's easy, lots of people will do it and your content will be everywhere. If you remove "easy" from the equation, only the most determined thief will bother with it, and its exposure is limited to that person's ability to distribute.

                The point is if I can make it so only a handful of highly-determined nerds are out there hawking stolen copies of my work, instead of hundreds of people posting the original on forums, I'm a lot better off.
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                • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
                  Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

                  You're still thinking in nerd mode...
                  lol, I guess that's kinda what happens when you spend all day writing code!

                  Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

                  The point is if I can make it so only a handful of highly-determined nerds are out there hawking stolen copies of my work, instead of hundreds of people posting the original on forums, I'm a lot better off.
                  The problem is, all it takes is for one of your legit customers to "share" it on one blackhat forum, and within days other people on that forum will have re-uploaded it to several other blackhat forums, torrent sites, etc. Next thing you know your product is available all over the internet for free... all because *one* of your customers decided to "share" it.

                  So I think because of the reason above, that it's just a waste of time to go to much effort to try to secure a digital info product. Sure, it doesn't hurt to take the usual precautions, but don't go out of your way trying to figure out a way to stop the sharing altogether, because unfortunately, it ain't going to happen.

                  If the product is even remotely decent and/or if it was created by someone who's well known, it will get passed around. A LOT. Sadly, that's just the reality of the digital info-product business.
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                  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
                    Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

                    lol, I guess that's kinda what happens when you spend all day writing code!



                    The problem is, all it takes is for one of your legit customers to "share" it on one blackhat forum, and within days other people on that forum will have re-uploaded it to several other blackhat forums, torrent sites, etc. Next thing you know your product is available all over the internet for free... all because *one* of your customers decided to "share" it.

                    So I think because of the reason above, that it's just a waste of time to go to much effort to try to secure a digital info product. Sure, it doesn't hurt to take the usual precautions, but don't go out of your way trying to figure out a way to stop the sharing altogether, because unfortunately, it ain't going to happen.

                    If the product is even remotely decent and/or if it was created by someone who's well known, it will get passed around. A LOT. Sadly, that's just the reality of the digital info-product business.
                    I know - but the likelihood of that one person jumping through all of those hoops in a scenario like I outlined just to share a copy is greatly reduced. People generally aren't going to rewrite an entire book, and those who did do a video session will have to host that file somewhere, not share an mpeg, so DMCA action can get that taken down quickly.

                    There's also the Google factor, for me that's what really kills it. It's one thing if something gets shared on a forum and those forum members have a field day with it, I get that and there isn't much that can be done within a community. The trouble is when those posts rank on page one searches for your title. So some casual surfer, who isn't a member of any of those sites or sharing networks, finds your pitch page, likes what he reads, and does a quick Google search to look for reviews and bam, there's a link right on page one where he can download it for free or some douche rocket on Fiverr is selling a copy. THAT's what I want to avoid. The system I proposed would help with that tremendously, because there is no "original version" that can be shared. Those thieves aren't "fans of you", they just sell everything they can easily get their hands on. If the content was protected the way I laid out, it's too much trouble and won't be their target, they'll just move on to other people putting out PDF's.
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          • Profile picture of the author seasoned
            Originally Posted by Brandon Tanner View Post

            I'm not sure what you're talking about, Steve. Anytime you take a screenshot of anything on a screen (be it a PDF page, an image, or whatever)... if you save it in BMP format (uncompressed), there will be no loss of quality. Even if you save it in the much lighter PNG format, there will not be any discernible loss in quality.

            And if you're doing a screen capture video... if you render it to uncompressed avi format and set the frame rate to the same as the original, there will be no loss of quality in the rendered video.

            Of course, anytime you render to uncompressed formats, you get huge file sizes. But that's a whole 'nother topic.
            If your screen is say 1024pixels across, that is ALL you will get. If you reduce or increase the size of the picture, you will lose resolution. Wth a proper PDF, you WON'T!

            Steve
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            • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
              Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

              If your screen is say 1024pixels across, that is ALL you will get. If you reduce or increase the size of the picture, you will lose resolution. Wth a proper PDF, you WON'T!

              Steve
              As I mentioned a few posts ago, we're talking about two completely different things here. Apples to oranges.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael71
    Brandon is right, sorry.

    And with some software I can copy any video with the same quality as it is playing in my browser.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    Screen captures aside, there is an easy way and a hard way. If you email out PDF's or make things that are easily copied and pasted, they will be copied and shared more frequently. If you make it a little more difficult, you deter a good portion of the people who would normally steal and resell your stuff on Fiverr etc. because they want to attach a simple PDF and not a video that's clearly branded as your creation.

    It's more about ease than technical capability... if someone really wants to share it, they still will, but many won't bother going through the trouble if the only way they could do it would be to screen cap an entire session, they'll spend their time on other products instead. Exposure will be reduced greatly.

    It also can prevent "sharing with friends" and help you better support your actual paying customers - if someone emails me, I don't know they were a buyer unless I manually look up every email I receive. By forcing Q&A through the same system where the files are hosted, you're at least able to monitor access attempts and if someone is leaking your stuff you'll be able to shut them down easier, or at the very least ignore their requests for help.

    Overall I think it's a good question and would like to see some answers other than "Don't bother"
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    Ron Rule
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    • Profile picture of the author TheWebGuy
      Originally Posted by ronrule View Post

      Screen captures aside, there is an easy way and a hard way. If you email out PDF's or make things that are easily copied and pasted, they will be copied and shared more frequently. If you make it a little more difficult, you deter a good portion of the people who would normally steal and resell your stuff on Fiverr etc. because they want to attach a simple PDF and not a video that's clearly branded as your creation.

      It's more about ease than technical capability... if someone really wants to share it, they still will, but many won't bother going through the trouble if the only way they could do it would be to screen cap an entire session, they'll spend their time on other products instead. Exposure will be reduced greatly.

      It also can prevent "sharing with friends" and help you better support your actual paying customers - if someone emails me, I don't know they were a buyer unless I manually look up every email I receive. By forcing Q&A through the same system where the files are hosted, you're at least able to monitor access attempts and if someone is leaking your stuff you'll be able to shut them down easier, or at the very least ignore their requests for help.

      Overall I think it's a good question and would like to see some answers other than "Don't bother"

      Hi Ron, exactly my thoughts. Thanks for your input. Anyone have any suggestions about this?
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  • Profile picture of the author lordspace
    It depends on what your market it.
    If your customers are not that tech savvy you can, indeed, have a script that will do a check for logged in user. If the user is logged in then the file is served otherwise an error.
    I've created similar functionality for my membership site (running WordPress and S2Member plugin).
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  • Profile picture of the author MightyWarrior
    unfortunately... make every page a picture and break it up into pieces that fit together like a puzzle, but this can be captured and good OCR software -- yada yada... videos -- screen/audio capture software -- yada yada...

    simply make it worth their value not to cancel OR pirate!! <= the only solution, imo.
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  • Profile picture of the author ronrule
    I was thinking of something like this:

    1. When a customer makes a purchase, their IP address is logged.
    2. Access to the system where they view the content is only allowed from ONE ip address - at first, the one they purchased from.
    3. If any other IP's attempt to access the content, the system doesn't let them in yet - it sends a confirmation email to the email address of the original purchaser, and requires they click a link to allow access. Only the IP address that clicks the link will be granted access. From then on, only that IP - the one that actually clicked the link - will be able to sign in and no others. The previous IP is dropped. This will prevent sharing the login, because only the last IP address that clicked the confirmation link that was only sent to the original buyer's email will ever have access.
    4. The content is served within the page via an ajax call, which also executes javascript that disables copy/paste and the printscreen button. You can detect that ajax is being used server side on the page that loads the content, so it will only return results when an ajax query makes the request (so users dont view source and post directly to ajax url).

    If the user disables Javascript, then the ajax query that requests the content for the page will never execute, so the page will be blank.

    Is it fool proof? No, no system is, but I think something like that would be troublesome enough that only a pretty decent developer would be able to copy it. Most of "us" here think like developers, but the people who are copying/reposting stuff on Fiverr aren't programmers and the hoops they will have to jump through will likely make it not worth it. The only way to copy the content this way would be to run a screencap of the entire session and share the video, which doesn't really fit the modus operandi for most content thieves.
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