spacer

Copy Protecting PDF : ASPS Web Page Protection

This article specifically applies to copy protecting PDF displayed on web pages protected by the ArtistScope Site Protection System (ASPS) (or service using ASPS) - here we are using normal PDF that is not encrypted like with Copysafe PDF Protection because there is no need to protect the file itself (page is already encrypted). However copy protection does get applied while the page is on display.

📖 How ASPS Protection Works

ASPS runs as a server side filter that encrypts web pages prior to delivery to the web browser. When an ASPS web page is displayed in a secure web browser like ArtisBrowser, nothing can be saved, copied, printed or otherwise extracted from the page. It is essentially a READ ONLY experience. The level of security and copy protection provided by ASPS and the ArtisBrowser has no comparison. In fact there is no alternative solution to compare with. In effect a secure tunnel is created between the website and the user's desktop in which nothing can be copied or extracted by any digital means. The only copy that can ever be made is by standing backl with a camera to take a photo of the computer's monitor - and if you have ever tried that, you will know poor the quality can be.

📖 File vs Image Protection

The two (2) sufaces to protect are the web page that displays the embedded PDF document, and the contents (appearance/image) of the page while on display.

  • Page Protection - the web page cannot be saved. Even view source is impossible. Even web scrapers and packet sniffers, if ever they can get the HTML, will find it encrypted and useless in any other application.
  • Image Protection - is prevention of copy of the contents of the page while it is on display. Nothing can be saved, printed or copied even by PrintScreen or screen capture.

Page Protection

ASPS uses military grade encryption especially designed not to increase file size or download time. In fact impact studies under huge loads show no significant increase in server resource consumption when delivering ASPS web pages.

However there may be a slight delay in page rendering because while nornal web pages can start displaying text and images as they are downloaded, ASPS web page HTML needs to be decrypted in entirety before media is downloaded. However the caching of scripts, CSS and other theme content is still applied for other pages.

Image Protection

Without image protection, once a page is open and on display, its contents can be screen captured and recorded, or even printed. The methods to control are:

  • Save Page - ArtisBrowser does not provide such options when a page is in Protect Mode.
  • Print Page - ArtisBrowser does not allow printing when a page is in Protect Mode.
  • Copy-n-Paste - ArtisBrowser does not allow copy, paste, drag options when a page is in Protect Mode.
  • Screen capture and recording - ArtisBrowser does not allow any recordong when a page is in Protect Mode.
  • Remote recording - in Protect Mode, ArtisBrowser will only allow remote viewing if specifically allowed by the author.

Protect Mode

ArtisBrowser functions like most normal web browsers until it detects an ASPS web page, and then it switches to Protect Mode.

📖 Which Pages Does ASPS Copy Protect

Meta-tags are used in the HEAD tags of web pages to be copy protected. Then the ASPS server knows that the page is to be encrypted, and the ArtisBrowser also knows that the page is to be decrypted and to switch to Protect Mode.

ASPS tags can be added manually (for static pages), added dynamically using conditional scripting in header templates, or added automatically (on-the-fly) by using CMS plugins like the ones available for WordPress and Moodle.

📖 Managing Copy Protected Pages on an ASPS Server

To manage copy protected web pages where ArtistScope Site Protection System (ASPS) software has been installed on a dedicated server or VPS, the ASPS Tag Management plugin can be used to nominate which pages are to be protected by simply nominating a keyword that may be part of the page's url. For example, by nominating "lessons", all web pages that include the word "lessons" in their url will be copy protected automatically. Plugins are available for Nuke, Drupal, Joomla, Moodle and WordPress CMS. If not using one of those CMS our support team can assist with templates to use in custom CMS like Bootstrap.

📖 Managing Copy Protected Pages in WordPress or Moodle

ASPS can be used to copy protect WordPress and Moodle indirectly by embedding an ASPS page into your existing web pages. This way ASPS need not be installed, and your website can be hosted on almost any type of shared web hosting service. We say "almost any site" because hosting services like WIX do not provide web hosting that can be customized - you don't get own your web pages and cannot edit the scripts and templates that create those pages.

📖 Copy Protecting PDF With ASPS

While ArtisBrowser can display normal PDF either downloaded and viewed as a desktop document, or while embedded on a web page, it can never be copy protected while both the PDF and the web page remain as normal. But when PDF is embedded into an ASPS protected web page, the web page can activate Protect Mode and anything displayed or embedded on that page can be copy protected.

However care needs to be taken with the PDF viewer to remove toolbar options and menus for save, print, etc. Care also needs to taken to prevent caching of the page.

📖 PDF Viewers for Web Pages

Normal PDF can be displayed using the following embed code:

Embed code for PDF

Note the paramateres for toolbar and navpanes? They are needed to remove save and print options from the viewer's toolbar.

Another method of displaying normal PDF on web pages is by using the PDFJS resource. PDFJS is a free open-source PDF API that can be downloaded and used on your website. However like above, PDFJS template needs to be customized to remove, save, download, and print options.

Otherwise, while the ASPS web page is viewed in ArtisBrowser, nothing can be copied or printed using the browser menus. So if you have the page viewer's menus under control and ArtisBrowser in Protect Mode, nothing displayed in the PDF can be copied.

📖 Limitations

The only limitation with ASPS is that it is for copy protecting web pages, which means that the user needs to be online.

However a huge advantage with publishing PDF on web pages is that the document can easily be updated at any time, enabling all users to read the latest version.

Return to the INDEX

facebook
twitter
email