Ebook Security

How Secure is your Ebook?

30 July 2006

Can You Prevent Others From Stealing Your Ebook?

If you have gone to the considerable trouble of creating your own original ebook then you might want to consider protecting it from copying and unauthorised distribution. In short, you might want to stop others stealing it. It might be true that nothing can prevent the most determined and technically skilled thief from stealing your ebook. But there are things you can do to make it riskier and more difficult for him to do so. Taking a few simple measures to increase the security of your ebook might help a lot.

Consider the format and software you have chosen to use. Different types of ebook will be subject to different security problems but is yours secure against simple copying or amendment of the text. Is your ebook protected from 'right click' mouse functions (select, copy, print)? Are the pages encrypted? Is the source code relatively inaccessible? Some ebook software gives you the option of building in this kind of protection.
How about passwords? Does the reader need a password to access your ebook? Does he or she need to download a key to make it readable? Again, some software options will provide such security functions. Some ebooks can be locked to a particular device (like a PC) or to a limited set of devices
How accessible is your download page? If the URL from which your ebook can be downloaded remains the same over time then there might be little to prevent a customer from making the URL public. If your ebook is not protected in some other way then any number of downloads could then be made without payment. A system which protected your download in some way - for example, by changing the URL periodically or limiting its use - would be helpful here.
What about copyright protection? Unless you dispose of it the copyright of your original work belongs to you. Do you have a copyright notice prominently displayed on your ebook to make clear who owns it? Have you registered your copyright in some way? If you find yourself in dispute about copyright ownership what evidence can you provide that it belongs to you? Copyright issues can vary from country to country so check up on what is applicable to your own case.
Is protection worth the trouble? Given the legal and technical complexities of protection there are some who argue that it's better to simply accept that copying is a fact of life and learn to live with it - maybe there is even some benefit in the publicity it can generate for your work. You need to decide what level of protection is affordable and appropriate in your particular case. Do not overlook the fact that there are digital rights management (DRM) services available to help you protect your material.

This is a large and complicated area to explore. But there is no need to panic. Think about what level of protection and security you really need, check out the available options and then weigh the costs and any disadvantages against the likely benefits. Investing too much time and money in security could be as big a mistake as investing too little. Explore the options and aim to get the balance right.