[austechwriter] Re: Change a PDF?

Michael - I asked for technical advice, not ethical.  Did you even =
consider that I might be the owner of the document or at least =
authorised to change it?  I am fairly on top of copyright, intellectual =
property and plagiarism thanks.  The PDF was locked because it was =
loaded on the web for a short period back in 1998 when we did not want =
people trying to change it.  As often happens in large institutions, we =
lost the people and the means to get to the source.  Sometimes the =
workarounds are needed for valid legal reasons, not dirty tricks.

The document and its intellectual property belong to the ANU corporate =
area which I am authorised to change on behalf of my director and her =
senior officer the Vice Chancellor of the University.  We want to put it =
up on the web to use in a training/educational environment with the =
confidential information removed so that people can use it as an =
example.  We do not have the original source document to make the =
necessary changes and I didn't feel like typing up the 60 page thing =
again.

But everyone can now relax as I have tracked down the original owner and =
even got a Word version of the document!  And I have their full consent =
to alter and load it, just in case anyone was worried about that ;)


-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Edward Granat [mailto:megranat@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, 30 May 2003 1:25 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [austechwriter] Re: Change a PDF?


Deb, it was encrypted and protected for a reason:  to stop people doing=20
precisely what you are trying to do to their proprietary and copyright=20
material.

Hacking in to decrypt a password protected Acrobat file to alter its=20
content could be considered an infringement, both of the digital =
copyright=20
laws and of various software anti-tampering laws.  (Copyright might =
still=20
subsist with the original author of the document or it would not have =
been=20
protected.)

My advice: Leave it alone and let your customer know that it is both=20
unethical and illegal to tamper with the file and that you and your=20
customer could be subject to penalties and damages, should the=20
originator(s) of the document ever find out what you are trying to do to =

their work, which might well happen in such a public forum as this.

Let me assure you that, if you were trying to do this to one of my or my =

clients' documents, I would take immediate action for redress.

Of course, you could always use the original to "inspire" your next =
work,=20
but you'd still be sailing very close to the wind on the copyright=20
legislation and would almost certainly come a cropper.

My goodness, Deb, you're at the Australian National University and, with =

all the publicity over university plagiarism hitting the Mistral at the=20
moment, they MUST know better!

Sincerely,

Michael Granat
Write Ideas
Carnegie, Victoria, Australia.

P.S.  Now you know why I send my copyright material using Acrobat, not =
Word!
**************************************************
To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to 
austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to 
austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field.

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field.

To search the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelist.org/archives/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: