[1645] in WWW Security List Archive
preventing downloading
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (matt jackson)
Thu Mar 14 20:12:25 1996
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 16:08:48 -0500 (EST)
From: matt jackson <mattj@indiana.edu>
To: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
Errors-To: owner-www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
I am a doctoral student at Indiana Univ. doing research on copyright and
the Internet. This may be a stupid question, but...
Is it possible to create a Web site where users can view documents but
they cannot download or print anything without authorization?
I know one can use encryption and or passwords to prevent all access, but
is it technically feasible to allow access without allowing the user to
keep a copy of the document.
To reveal my ignorance even further, it seems to me that if one created a
new generation of Web browsers that would look for a special code before
allowing a "save" or "print" option, this would work. My more
knowledgeable friends say that once the document is in the user's RAM (as
required in order to view it in the first place), nothing can stop them
from saving or printing it. Are they right?
Thank you in advance and I apologize if this is the wrong list for this
request.
Matt Jackson
mattj@indiana.edu
