Re: Xpdf fuckware
Osamu Aoki <debian@aokiconsulting.com> writes:
> > IMHO, the only reasonable interpretation of these bits is that they
> > are a request from the document's author to not do certain things.
> > That is all the message should say.
>
> PDF files can be created by an operator who creates these as archive
> files and set these bits by company policy... So it may be precise to
> use a word "PDF file creator" or something similar over "document
> author". They may be same person but you never know.
Yes. And looking through some of the Slashdot posts, it seems that a lot of
people would set these bits in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
That is, rather than meaning "I am the copyright holder and I am not granting
you permission to create a printed copy" (bogus as that might be), the bits
might often mean something more like "I am someone who's hands this document
has passed through at some point since creation and I feel, for various
reasons that may have nothing to do with preserving copyright, that you
shouldn't be able to print this document out because I understand the overall
situation better than you do, and you only *think* you want to print."
Basic power grab.
--Mike
--
[O]ne of the features of the Internet [...] is that small groups of people can
greatly disturb large organizations. --Charles C. Mann
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