# Providing uncopyable info on the web **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715 "2006-08-22T06:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/1 "2006-08-22T06:58:16Z")
I realize this is probably an unatainable goal, but I have an idea to provide a study guide to a popular test book on the web, and I’d prefer it if it couldn’t be copied and emailed around from person to person. I’ve of course thought of MS Word: way too easy to copy. I’ve thought of Adobe Reader, which is better. Of course, all files come with the problem that the actual file can be emailed to friends, right? Maybe it’s better to make a series of web pages to navigate through that give the info? That would mean someone would have to click through all the pages and copy everything very painstakingly to copy all the information. Maybe that’s the best option, as I have a friend who could probably build that. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/2 "2006-08-22T07:06:23Z")
The best you can hope for is to make it too much hassle to bother. They can always print the screen, scan the page using a device with OCR capabilities, and save it into a document that they can then paste together. I have encountered some web pages that defeated highlighting and copying the text, but nothing that would defeat simply scanning a printed page. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/3 "2006-08-22T07:39:08Z")
According to [this web site](http://www.faqts.com/knowledge_base/view.phtml/aid/11861) you can disable print screen with a little Java script. Disclaimer, I don’t know if it works. [This](http://www.antssoft.com/htmlprotector/help/html/script.htm) site has scripts to disable rights clicking, save as, offline viewing, printing and a bunch of other stuff. Same disclaimer applies. And it costs $$. Slee ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/4 "2006-08-22T07:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=sleestak] According to this web site you can disable print screen with a little Java script. [/QUOTE] But of course, anyone can turn off Javascript in their browser. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/5 "2006-08-22T08:39:10Z")
[QUOTE=sleestak] [This](http://www.antssoft.com/htmlprotector/help/html/script.htm) site has scripts to disable rights clicking, save as, offline viewing, printing and a bunch of other stuff. Same disclaimer applies. And it costs $$. Slee [/QUOTE] So does [this site](http://www.web-wise-wizard.com/javascript-tutorials/disable-right-click.html) - and its free. I’ve tried it and it does work, but as **GuanoLad** said it can be overcome by turning off JavaScript in the browser. On the other hand how many people actually know how to do so? ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/6 "2006-08-22T18:06:03Z")
[QUOTE=Imasquare] So does [this site](http://www.web-wise-wizard.com/javascript-tutorials/disable-right-click.html) - and its free. I’ve tried it and it does work, but as **GuanoLad** said it can be overcome by turning off JavaScript in the browser. On the other hand how many people actually know how to do so? [/QUOTE] Well this [page](http://javascript.internet.com/snippets/javascript-off-redirect.html) has a \ example that redirects browsers with javascript disabled to a different page. Just put it in the Head and anyone with javascript off can be redirected to a page stating that javascript is required. Slee ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/7 "2006-08-22T21:25:34Z")
Create it in [Flash.](http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/flashpro/) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/8 "2006-08-22T21:34:44Z")
You can password protect files made with Adobe Acrobat, wouldn’t that solve the problem? ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/providing-uncopyable-info-on-the-web/369715/9 "2006-08-22T21:52:58Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] You can password protect files made with Adobe Acrobat, wouldn’t that solve the problem? [/QUOTE] One can still download the PDF from the web and send the PDF to others. Also, when applying password security to a PDF, you get a dialog box that says that although > [@](#): > > Adobe’s products enforce the restrictions, not all third-party products fully support and respect these settings. Recipients using such third-party products might be able to bypass some of the restrictions you have set.