PDF No Copy was created to help authors prevent the copying of PDF text. Still, it is difficult to fully prevent people from copying text from your PDF files. The most advanced DRM protection system cannot fight against the rising technology of “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR).
So why should you use PDF No Copy?
Using PDF No Copy, you can prevent potential plagiarists from copying your text, by influencing their behaviour. This we call nudging.
Nudging is an innovative approach to influence people’s behaviour. This concept was first mentioned in a best-seller written by University of Chicago’s economist Richard H. Thaler and Harvard Law School’s Professor Cass R. Sunstein. In their book, they showed that it is surprisingly easy to influence people’s actions, habits and motivation, referring to a variety of previous studies.
PDF No Copy prevents the copying of text in your PDF file, but it has its limitations. It doesn’t prevent people from scanning the document with OCR-technology. However, this small nudge, this small inconvenience is enough to prevent a ‘lazy’ person, or technologically less apt, from copying your text.
Nudging is an innovative approach to influence people’s behaviour. This small nudge, this small inconvenience is enough to prevent a ‘lazy’ person, or technologically less apt, from copying your text.
So what is the connection between nudging, motivation and PDF encryption ?
Most people wouldn’t bother looking for and installing an OCR program. And even if they had an OCR app installed on their computer, the mere fact that the OCR process takes time and patience often keeps them from it.
PDF No Copy is good enough to prevent the copying of PDF files as long as the person is not highly motivated to copy the text. In this case, It is very difficult – if not impossible – to publish digital text and completely prevent copy of the text. There are countless examples in which big tech-corporations were hacked; its internal documents exposed for the world to see.(I.e. Sony Pictures).