OFF TOPIC: CD-R Copy Protection?

[PIZZ]

I know this is off topic here but I'm trying to find out how I would go about trying to copy protect a CD-R I created? It's basically a PDF file on the CD and I want to make it so the disk wont copy if someone tried to do so. I know you can use an app. that will make some files invisible but will this just make them invisible but still copyable? If it's possible then how would I do this? Does anyone know any other (free) methods? I'm using Toast 6 to burn. Thanks

[AntnyMD]

If I were you, I would focus on copy-protecting the actual PDF file by either requiring a password to open it, or preventing printing of the document, or locking the document from being changed -- or all three. These features I know are available in Adobe Acrobat 5 ... I assume they remain in version 6.

[PIZZ]

yes but the PDF can still be copied if it were on a CD-R. I dont really want to limit printing or opening the PDF... I also read on another forum that putting a deep scratch in a certain spot on the cd after buring it will still make it readable but hard to copy, has anyone heard of this method either??

[AntnyMD]

If you managed to copy-protect the CD but allow printing and stuff of the actual document, whats to stop someone from printing the document to PDF and burning their own CD? (On Mac OS X one of the print options is to print as a PDF, and on PCs with the full Acrobat installed, you can also print to PDF).

Is this just a "let me see if I can do this" kind of thing?

[PIZZ]

just curious too see it it would work...

[pixeljammedia]

In OS X, any file starting with a "." is invisible to the finder. You could make aliases to the pdf available in a finder window and the user would have to do some digging in order to see the original file. In Classic, you would need to set the invisible flag in a resource editor like resedit or resourcerer. I've hidden files this way in order to create custom background images in the past. It isn't foolproof, but what kind of protection is these days?

[WiseWeasel]

There is no commercial copy protection available for CDR media. You'd need to use commercial duplicators for that, and it's expensive, and doesn't work anyways. A low-tech method of copy protection is to fill up the empty space on the CD with large bogus hidden files (like an encrypted - but not compressed - empty disk image), and then scratch a piece of the metallic surface out of the top side (the label side) of the CD-R (hoping that the gouge fell in the middle of the large dummy files, and not the pdf). When someone tries to duplicate the entire CD, they will get a read error. Nothing prevents them, however, from copying the pdf to their HD and making a new CD-R. Nothing you can do will prevent that, as if they can read it, they can copy it. If you combine my suggestion with pixeljammedia's, you will prevent 95% of MacOS X users from figuring it out, though.

[pixeljammedia]

The thing about OS X is that the print command has pdf services built in. The ability to printi a file means you have the ability to print to pdf. Not disabling print through Acrobat means anyone who can open the file in OS X can have a read-only pdf saved on their hard drive. (.e.g. it is not editable, but is still a pdf)