Re: Successfully packaging content

From: Michael Madej <mmadej_at_industryweek.com>
Date: Fri 29 Mar 2002 00:26:48 -0600

Tim Browning wrote:
> >What can you do to prevent the piracy of your reports?

To which Rob Frankel responded:
> Man, we went all over the planet for a solution to this
> one. There are watermarks, and all kinds of junk you
> can do. In the end, we opted for placing the credit
> card receipt on page two of the document before download.
> That way, anyone who wants to pass on the file
> passes on their personal information along with it.

Rob, I must admit that I got giddy when I read your post.
I've struggled with that problem -- people buying one PDF
from our company and forwarding it to a lot of people.
When I saw your solution, I thought it was no less than
brilliant, and I immediately jumped out of my chair to
show the rest of my Web team members!

But one of my colleagues brought up an interesting point...
a point that I'm not qualified to address. He said that
in some states, merchants are prohibited from disclosing a
buyer's FULL credit card information on a receipt. That's
why you'll see the XXXX XXXX XXXX 6542 on your
receipt from Wal-Mart, for example.

I don't know if this is a similar situation. Are there any
lawyers in the house? Is binding a person's credit card
information in a PDF equivalent to printing it on a receipt?
And if so, is it true that it's illegal to do that in some
states or countries?

If it is truly illegal to include the credit card info, maybe
the solution would be to include some other type of sensitive
personal information that isn't illegal to publish? But
other than a credit card number, I'm not sure what would
prevent people from distributing a document. Any thoughts?

Regards,
Michael
____________________
m i c h a e l m a d e j
new media marketing manager | industryweek
216 931 9637 | mmadej_at_industryweek.com
____________________







Received on Fri Mar 29 2002 - 00:26:48 CST