[consulting] Copy Protection/DRM approach

[Sami Khan]

I don't think that what the client is asking is "silly". It's a valid
concern. But one which the current community doesn't sympathize with --
namely how to keep copyrighted materials from being copied so one can
protect their business model, value, and therefore profits. 

After all if they had no business model, why would they be paying
thousands of dollars to develop a website? Hence, the developers should
do their best to see that he or she fulfils such requests, just make
sure you have an airtight contract and the client understands the nature
of what you are doing for them very well before you do it.

In the future perhaps DRM will be as common as it is elsewhere, or
copyrighted material will no longer exist. In which case there will be
no incentive to be an author other than just to market yourself as an
expert.

In any case, just putting stuff out there on the web destroys the value
of the material in the eyes of the consumer, so even if you can make it
hard for the consumer to get at the material; that very fact creates
value. Now you can want everyone to think outside of the box all you
want, but the copyrighted publishing model in the age of ubiquity as
defined by the printing press has been a valid model for quite sometime.
Do expect people to want it to hold for some time more.

Regards,
Sami Khan

On Sun, 2009-10-11 at 20:11 -0400, lapurd at gmail.com wrote:
> Don't we all hate to deal with "silly" clients (I use term "silly"
> just to be polite) and "silly" requests of "silly" clients.
> Unfortunately, most of us have to deal with that from time to time.
> Don't forget, if all clients will be very smart, then most of them
> will do they web sites by themselves.
> So, paradox is that more "silly" clients produce more jobs.
> I hate to acknowledge this paradox but it is true.
> ;P
> 
> 
> Matt Chapman wrote: 
> > Larry Garfield wrote:
> >   
> > > Printing: Go to your users' computers and unplug their printers.
> > > 
> > > Screenshots: Hack into your users' computers and hack their OS to disable that 
> > > feature.
> > > 
> > > As for your client, he needs to be banned from using the Internet until he 
> > > gets a clue that it's no longer the 1800s.  Hell, Xerox machines have been 
> > > around forever and they allow all sorts of duplication of physical books.  
> > >   
> > >     
> > Xerox machines are exactly the loop hole you've forgotten. Once we've 
> > unplugged their printer and hacked out their screenshots, they can 
> > simply place their monitor faced down on the xerox machine and hit 'copy.'
> > 
> > What you'll need to do is run the site on a single computer in a locked 
> > room that is not connected to the internet, and charge people an 
> > admission fee. Don't forget to check their pockets for camera phones, 
> > pencils, and silly putty.
> > 
> > Speaking of silly...
> > 
> > -Matt
> > 
> > 
> >   
> > > On Sunday 11 October 2009 3:47:23 pm Cameron Eagans wrote:
> > >   
> > >     
> > > > I have a client that is requesting a sort of DRM/Copy protection scheme for
> > > > his website. The site will be an educational site for medical students to
> > > > help them prepare for an exam for their field of work, and access to the
> > > > site will be granted on a subscription basis. The client is requesting
> > > > something that I don't know how to do:  prevent getting the content out of
> > > > the site in any way. He wants to disable copy/paste, printing, screenshots,
> > > > etc. I'm reasonably certain that there is no foolproof method of doing
> > > > this. Does anyone have a method of preventing users from copying website
> > > > content and sharing it?
> > > > 
> > > > (for the record, I don't support this approach -- I'm more partial to the
> > > > 'Don't copy our stuff or we'll sue the crap out of you' approach. The
> > > > client is asking for it though, so I have to at least make an effort =D )
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks in advance!
> > > > -----
> > > > Cameron Eagans
> > > > Owner, Black Storms Studios, LLC
> > > > http://www.blackstormsstudios.com
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