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Why are there such weak protections for PDF files? ?
As the question stated. I've tried numerous PDF locks, and every time I go to this site to make sure it is secure, it always gets unlocked! All I want is the PDF file to be protected against editing and copying. I don't mind it being printed though. So, I set up a password to restrict access to the file, and save it. Later on, I go to this site and see if it unlocks it. Lo and behold, it does!
Does anyone know how to properly secure a PDF file such that when it is uploaded online, it doesn't get unlocked?
I can't share the site name as it may break the rules, but it is rather easy to find. Just Google "PDF Unlock" and see for yourselves. I just want it protected from being copied, that's all. (By copy, I mean opening the file and copying its contents of course), not copying the file itself.
1 Answer
- Anonymous1 year agoFavourite answer
Because PDFs weren't designed with high security in mind. Standard PDF security relies on the reader software to honor it, which is why it can be bypassed. The only way to "secure" a PDF is to encrypt it and require an authorized reader to decrypt it, usually by authenticating against a server. If you have to use Yahoo Answers for your tech support, you probably can't afford such encryption.
Protecting from copying and editing seems pretty pointless if you're going to allow printing, anyway. One can literally just print to another PDF file on Windows, or they could scan the output and run it through an OCR tool to obtain the original text.