HTML and PDF content security have long been based on passwords but this is also their undoing as web and Adobe Password Protect systems can be readily broken using password-cracking tools and even easier, these passwords can be shared with unauthorized persons. Any publisher or author serious about protecting his/her PDF or HTML creative will therefore keep away from such software. Nonetheless, the market has another more comprehensive document security option and it is one that makes use of encryption and DRM (digital rights management)/access controls.

It is virtually impossible to stop document copying yet it is the root of all forms of intellectual rights abuse. Content security through encryption makes the file or document that people have access to unusable unless some other information is available, and as such copying is stopped because in the first instance the user cannot make use of the document. With regards to authorized users there is no way of controlling what they can do with a protected document once it is decrypted and this is where access controls come in. Compared to Adobe protect systems the encryption and DRM combination is efficient in preventing unauthorized document viewing, copying, printing (to file, PDF or image printers), sharing, modifying, saving, and screen grabbing.

The Windows and Adobe applications which are used to view HTML and PDF documents all carry the functions for copy, paste, save, and so forth, and which are difficult to take control over. This can however be remedied by enforcing document users to use a special document viewer whose features the document owner can control. It is this content security viewer that will liaise with the document owner to verify the users’ permissions to view or use the protected documents. The logic behind the viewer beats that of Adobe password protect systems and this has made it popular among publishers and authors who provide their HTML or PDF content on subscription basis because they have control over when the document expires (i.e. the number of days, fixed date, views, never), if accounts expire, content revocation, if it can be used in thin client or virtual environments, and whether the content can be viewed online or via the internet.

Content security based on encryption and DRM controls has found great application among online training course providers and for e-learning in securing web content (websites, portals, intranets and extranets), and even among designers, architects and artists. Unlike web and Adobe password protect based systems it guarantees that the revenue streams for these and other parties are protected and also spares the IT support staff of the hassles associated with using passwords including managing, entering, passing, and even forgetting them.

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