Protection Encoding?

[Haibane Shadsie]

I'm even wondering if anything like this exists... and if it does, is there any way I can do it? (Without buying software in addition to what I already have because I'm poor)?

Is there any way you can code an html file so that it can only be viewed online, but not saved to anyone's computer, nor able to be printed?

I'm wondering this because I think it might be nice to post my novel chapter by chapter online so I can bug people to read and review it for me (I do have the first chapter uploaded to my domain as an html file)... but I'm worried that if I post anymore, that people will find it, try to save it to their own files/print it... put their name on it and plagerize it...

I'm even leery of sharing it with friends I know online, but I do have legal recourse should anyone try to steal it and publish it without my permission. I have several people who know that my novel is mine.... I think I could bring up convincing arguments in a court of law if I have to, I just don't want to ever have to.

I just think... it could be nice to have people review my work without worrying about random jerks finding it and trying to plagerize it. I would like, if it is possible, to learn how to code html pages so that they can be read online, but if anyone tries to save them to a disk or hardrive, they become all garbled, and the same thing happens if anyone attempts to print them - they come out all gibberish.

Is this even possible? IF it is, is it a whole lot of trouble? If it is too much trouble, I won't even bother with it. I just would like, if I can, to have safety precautions in place if I want my work reviewed by a wider audience than I have currently.

[andyroo]

There's really no way to encrypt an HTML file or even add protections to it (except for making the file read-only, but that is a changable attribute of files). The only good alternative that I know of right now is going witht the Adobe PDF writer (or whatever it's called) (not the reader). Just find a Mac anywere near where you live or work to use the software for free (I think it comes for free with the OS in Mac OSs). With the pdf you can copy protect it and print protect it and you can add extra information that will 'mark' it as yours and be able to keep that feature uneditable once the file is compiled. Dunno about free ways of doing something like this on the PC.

[Haibane Shadsie]

Unfortunately, I currently do not know anyone with a Mac. Sad, huh? I used to work on Macs when I was in college, but I'm not going to school anymore, and everyone I know and everywhere I go has PCs!

No, there are no Kinkos near me. It's like... a 45 minute drive for me to get to the nearest Kinkos. Yes, I live in the middle of freaking nowhere!

Yeah, sounds like trouble, so I don't think I will post.. just e-mail to specific people. I was just wondering if there was a way.

[JediSonic]

You should probably just use email. The problem with HTML is there is no way to make your writing public without making it public

[Straylight]

You should probably just use email. The problem with HTML is there is no way to make your writing public without making it public

Exactly.

And in concept, there is honestly no such thing as "copy protection" with computers. If someone can see it, they can copy it.

There are ways of hindering things though.

You could save all the writing as a GIF file, preventing people from selecting text and copying it. You could also try using a Flash interface - this obviously requires some money though.

[TheMelodyMaker]

It's too bad it isn't an application you're writing; then you could put something into the code when it starts up that performs a checksum on itself and closes if there's a mismatch (or something like that). I'm thinking of doing something like that with The Traveller's Guide.

[Mithrandir]

Yikes, TMM. THAT would require a bit of extra money. Even then, "screen shot" converts it to graphic format. Anyway, if someone is a fast typer, they can just type the images back into text. Also, there are programs that can do OCR pretty acurately (even free ones). (OCR: Optical Character Recognition). Bottom line, you can't really put it out there in such a way as to keep people from stealing it. Sad to say, but you are better off with the email idea.

[JediSonic]

Oldphil, the thing TMM was talking about wouldn't be that hard for a competent programmer to do From the sound of it, TMM is a competent programmer
Hey, you actually COULD make some sort of custom text-viewing device that would do that, but... umm... like straylight said, if someone can see it they can copy it. Flash or even a Java app or something might work fairly well though. Just that many more steps they'd have to go through to steal it, as opposed to a .gif

Yes, as a programmer I would probably make a Java applet that either has the text built in the .class file or reads it from a .txt file on your webserver. The average story-stealer would be hard-pressed to copy it then XD

Sadly, an experienced computer person like myself could still hack into it without much difficutly

I'd just go with the email if I were you.

[madphilb]

Yes, as a programmer I would probably make a Java applet that either has the text built in the .class file or reads it from a .txt file on your webserver. The average story-stealer would be hard-pressed to copy it then XD

Best thing to do is to encrypt the text itself and decode it to screen. Keeping the text in it's raw format around makes it that much easier to steal.

The Bible Verse program that a friend of mine and myself wrote (I did the actual coding on it) used an encryption routine I found in a QuickBASIC book I had. Worked so well the data files don't compress with something like ZIP because there are no patterns left in the file anymore

[JediSonic]

You know you've done a good job when winzip can't figure it out!

I think in StarSheep, I'm going to have some level of encryption on the level texts, and maybe throw in some misleading filenames on the other stuff.. Of course, it doesn't take much to rename a .crap file to a .wav file The whole thing is freeware anyway... I'll probably just give the 'level' files (my own simple scripting language) a basic letter-for-letter text encryption and leave it at that.