What's the best way to protect launch contents?

I host my media on Amazon S3 and wrote some php scripts to restrict access to the download pages and the media links. People can only use the media links from the download page (there is a script that processes the downloads and checks for the referring page) and the contents of the download page only appear for people referred by my shopping cart links.

My scripts aren't highly sophisticated, but they block casual sharing without creating any major usability issues for customers.

That said, any moderately skilled hacker can easily download and re-publish everything once they paid. It's pretty much impossible to completely stop the sharing of digital content (just ask the movie and music industries about that.) Thieves steal, but they (and their friends) are usually not your target customers. Most people who value your content will also respect your right to be paid for it.

There are lots of strategies for mitigating the impact of theft. One is to create a component to your product that cannot be downloaded - like access to a members' forum or private discussion group, weekly Q&A conference calls, one-on-one coaching, admission to a live event, access to online software tools, and other things like that.

Bottom line: theft can be deterred but not eliminated. Block casual sharing to avoid tempting people who are generally honest and give people a good reason to want you to succeed (the best reason is when your success helps them in a tangible way.)

Andrew

I appreciate your response - I'll look at some options. Thx!