eBooks - is there a secure system?

[Paul B]

I have a client who runs a specialised publishing company. They have been online for 10 years and built up a useful ecommerce site.

The owner has now decided that eBooks are the way to go; converting his 30+ titles of some 300 - 400 pages to PDF format.

So these would be exactly the same as his conventional range, except in PDF format - including color images. And sell along side them.

He now has a panic over his books being copied and redistributed illegally. He feels there must be a way round this and has researched a number of ways of securing his ebooks. Some of these are expensive and require hosting the PDF files on the secure PDF service provider's server. This would mean that the present shopping cart system would not work.

I have told him that it is essentially impossible to stop his ebooks being copied. If they can be opened they can be copied (by screen-shots and OCR, for example) and passwording only means the password is passed on. Preventing printing will annoy buyers as I would be having bought a 300 page ebook and have to read it on my screen only.

Am I right? Or is there a secure way to sell ebooks?

[kgun]

I have written about this on my forum under the heading: "eBooks and eMagazines."

You have to sign up, because of reasons I don't like to repeat for the n-th time at WPW.

Originally Posted by Paul B

Some of these are expensive and require hosting the PDF files on the secure PDF service provider's server. This would mean that the present shopping cart system would not work.

You think of systems like PayLoadz?

Originally Posted by Paul B

I have told him that it is essentially impossible to stop his ebooks being copied. If they can be opened they can be copied (by screen-shots and OCR, for example) and passwording only means the password is passed on. Preventing printing will annoy buyers as I would be having bought a 300 page ebook and have to read it on my screen only.

Am I right? Or is there a secure way to sell ebooks?

Screen shots should be possible to handle by locking the relevant keys on the keyboard. OCR scanning is more difficult, but it requires advanced filtering and programming.

One very simple solution: Kjell Bleivik, CV and some poems etc. in Norwegian only

Click on "Hele diktsamlingen" in the left menu. It should be possible to give a random password that can only be used n-times even if the PDF file is downloaded to the disk. I have Adobe Professional 7 and do not know what is possible in version 8.

You can price the book depending on how many times you are allowed to open the document.

I indicate more advanced solutions in the above forum post.

[seiretto]

Hi Paul,

I dont believe any of the current available systems will completely secure your ebooks. Its much the same with shareware, eventually someone cracks it and its then freely available to everyone.

All you can do, just like Kjell has stated (I think), is use a method which will make it more difficult to copy, but if a waster is intent on reselling the ebooks there is little a limit on the number times it can be opened with do to deter them

There is another method you could try which packs the document within an .exe file, a client of ours uses it. If you are interested let me know and I will ask him for details.

Dave.

[kgun]

You can also make it more difficult to copy the material, by digitally signing your PDF documents.

[adverlicious]

Given enough resources, you could also consider deploying Adobe's LifeCycle platform.

It's an enterprise-grade tool and quite likely beyond your budget, but it shows what can be done with PDF documents when the need for controls exists and can be cost-justified:

* Provides document owners with the ability to change access rights after documents have been distributed
* Authorization software development kit (SDK) allows further dynamic policy controls (such as client IP address restriction or one-time printing)
* All activity (open, modify, print, close) on protected documents can be logged by the server and reviewed by the author of the document
* Provides the ability to grant recipients the right to access documents offline for a specified time; forces recipients to reauthenticate after offline period has expired
* Revokes access to outdated files and automatically provides a link to a current version as they are published
* Allows immediate revocation of access to distributed documents for individuals or groups in the event of termination or security breach

[richard-s]

As discussed above, there are some solutions which provide some protection against casual copying.

However, what will the customers accept?

- Reading a long e-book on screen is a horrible experience, even in the best e-book software.

I've tried many e-books, newspapers and e-courses in a variety of formats. A lot of determination is needed to read anything more than brief passages of these publications. The necessary zooming, scrolling and panning quickly become very tedious.

- Customers may well have a valid reason for reading their e-books on more than one PC; both online and off-line.

Anything which works only on a "tethered" desktop PC will be very unattractive.

The more stringent the security, the lower the value to customers so the lower the selling price.

The higher the security, the more insulting it is to genuine honest customers.

Finally, do remember the legal requirement to provide "accessibility." Under anti-discrimination laws, people must be permitted to customise their PC display. Some secure e-books prevent this.

Richard

[Paul B]

Some great answers, thanks to all.

The storage and delivery of the ebooks is not a problem - oscommerce handles this pretty well. It's the area after a customer has bought the ebook that is scaring my client.

seiretto: I did send you a PM. I'd be interested in teh .exe solution.

richard-s: very valid points! Solutions available seem so down on the buyer that honest ones will shy away.

kgun: I joined your forum and read the post. Thanks.

Any more thoughts on this?

[rondo]

Promote and cross-sell your other products inside the ebooks so if they are shared you have a chance of making additional sales.


Andrew

Web Hosting Diary

[ronchalice]

This response may be a little out of the box, or perhaps just in a different box. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, you might want to have your client consider used Amazon Kindle as an option for electronic distribution.

In that case, he has no overhead, no security worries, just collects the appropriate cut on every copy Amazon sells.

[johnxuster]

I dont believe any of the current available systems will completely secure your ebooks also.