Why Encrypted PDFs? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Why Encrypted PDFs?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
JasonDenton
Sep 09, 2010 18:43:13 Why are the PDFs for LFR adventures encrypted? What tangible benefit does Wizards and/or the original authors gain from encrypting the PDFs? Because it a real nuisance for me.

One of the very few things my mac does not do natively is offer a booklet style print out. There is of course a third party extension which will do this. But it doesn't work with encrypted PDFs because extension protecting the given permissions requires disabling third party extensions. And when I tried to send out the legends and lore page from SPEC2-1 before the event, I couldn't extract it from the rest of the PDF.

I understand that Wizards holds the copyright on these materials, and has a vested interest in controlling them, and part of that is in making sure that hacked up and modified versions of them aren't floating around. These aren't Open Gaming/SRD type content. But they are content that is being freely given away to promote interest in the game. Restricting the ability of people manipulate the PDFs seems counter productive in that context.
#2
22_Over_7
Sep 09, 2010 23:21:14 I agree. I regularly play with a visually impaired player and it would be great if I could extract some pages from the back (Appendices, Handouts, New Rules/Loot) so he could access the file on his computer. But the encryption prevents that.

I'm pretty sure he gets all the mods on his own so he can look that stuff up later anyway, but y'know - the principle of the thing.
#3
pedr
Sep 10, 2010 3:23:03 Most, and possibly all, LFR adventures allow copy/paste.

I create booklets using a printer which has that ability built into its driver (though as I have an old Windows only printer I'm having to use Parallels and Windows 7 to get that to work). Adobe Reader 8 on the Mac can do booklet printing, I think. (Avoid Reader 9 - it doesn't work as well in a number of areas). Reader 8 also has a better font renderer than Preview/MacOS so it correctly displays some fonts which won't display on other Mac readers.
#4
JasonDenton
Sep 10, 2010 12:58:17 I had really been hoping to avoid installing Adobe Acrobat on my mac; too many problems over the years as your correctly identify as the case of acrobat 9. Copy and paste does work, but only for text. Extracting whole pages with images and formatting in tact, is forbidden. This of course is what would make it easier to send lore pages to players.

Getting booklet printing right also requires that you print the mod exactly as presented in order to get page ordering right. No skipping some pages. This may seem like a very minor thing, but I don't need the lower tier stat blocks. Especially at the H1 tier, I know the local group is going to smoke the high tier thanks to power creep. I also don't need to waste trees on the standard broiler plate.

Again, I do understand the need to protect the rights of the authors and wizards. But the value of these mods for those parties is their usefulness in promoting the game. Encrypting the PDFs doesn't really contribute to that but does make it difficult to manipulate them in useful ways.

All of which makes me wonder is it might be worth considering releasing mods under a creative commons license of some sort. I understand that authors will no longer be paid for their mods. Perhaps authors could release their work under the CC license, and then wizards could review and bless the best ones for RPGA play?
#5
kenobi65
Sep 10, 2010 14:40:47 As LFR uses various things for which WotC claims ownership (the FR intellectual property, the 4E rules), I'm not sure that they'd be willing to either:
a) Release LFR modules under Creative Commons
b) "Bless" home-written modules which haven't gone through some level of vetting

Now, LFR won't be considered to be canon going forward (which has meant that all LFR modules have had to be approved for plot content by WotC's FR folks), but I do believe that WotC still has a vested interest in maintaining a level of control on LFR publications.
#6
Madfox11
Sep 10, 2010 15:31:52
Now, LFR won't be considered to be canon going forward (which has meant that all LFR modules have had to be approved for plot content by WotC's FR folks), but I do believe that WotC still has a vested interest in maintaining a level of control on LFR publications.

Correct. In fact, giving the Globals a bit more direct control over contents is more a show of confidence in their experience in knowing what WotC wants and does not want. I am sure it will be revoked real quick if we abuse it.

#7
JasonDenton
Sep 11, 2010 13:12:26 Perhaps the last half of my last sentence got missed. I'll quote it again.

"Perhaps authors could release their work under the CC license, and then wizards could review and bless the best ones for RPGA play?"

Wizards seems to be somewhat conflicted (as companys get) about what it is trying to accomplish vs. what it is willing to allow. High control is fine when your paying people to write mods. The writer gets the check. Wizards gets the copyright. But the moment you decide to stop paying the community (or somebody) to write the mods, the relationship has to change. If they're going to have staff adapt dungeon mods, or otherwise write the mods in house, great. Copyright and licensing is pretty clear in this case. If they're going to try and get the community to write stuff for free, then vetting and blessing the best of them is the best they are going to get because if they're not paying, authors aren't going to turn over their copyrights.

All of which is getting off topic. Encrypting the PDFs so they are hard to manipulate seems to be run counter to what wizards is trying to achieve with the program. Its understandable under a 1980s view of copyright. But it's 2010. Things like the CC license exist to allow copyright holders to extend the ability to manipulate a work to its uses, while still retaining and protecting their own rights.

#8
kenobi65
Sep 11, 2010 14:05:00 In an environment in which reviewing the contracted LFR modules is a bottleneck, and stretches the available staff, do you honestly think that the LFR staff has the bandwidth to review dozens, if not hundreds, of fan-written modules? When LFR has numerous modules which are behind schedule on being released (some of which are now a year late), would this be the best use of the staff's limited time?
#9
ibixat
Sep 26, 2010 6:22:25 This may sound crazy but I find that a pdf printer driver often works best for this. if I need a page from a locked pdf I will "print" to a pdf file the page I need and go from there, I use dopdf on my pc I have no clue what you'd need on the mac. You can also go through and print out basically the pages you want in whatever order to the pdf printer and then do what you please with that output pdf... There may be some quality loss in images and what not but if you experiment enough it will probably be something you won't be able to notice.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 JasonDenton Sep 09, 2010 18:43:13	Why are the PDFs for LFR adventures encrypted? What tangible benefit does Wizards and/or the original authors gain from encrypting the PDFs? Because it a real nuisance for me. One of the very few things my mac does not do natively is offer a booklet style print out. There is of course a third party extension which will do this. But it doesn't work with encrypted PDFs because extension protecting the given permissions requires disabling third party extensions. And when I tried to send out the legends and lore page from SPEC2-1 before the event, I couldn't extract it from the rest of the PDF. I understand that Wizards holds the copyright on these materials, and has a vested interest in controlling them, and part of that is in making sure that hacked up and modified versions of them aren't floating around. These aren't Open Gaming/SRD type content. But they are content that is being freely given away to promote interest in the game. Restricting the ability of people manipulate the PDFs seems counter productive in that context.
#2 22_Over_7 Sep 09, 2010 23:21:14	I agree. I regularly play with a visually impaired player and it would be great if I could extract some pages from the back (Appendices, Handouts, New Rules/Loot) so he could access the file on his computer. But the encryption prevents that. I'm pretty sure he gets all the mods on his own so he can look that stuff up later anyway, but y'know - the principle of the thing.
#3 pedr Sep 10, 2010 3:23:03	Most, and possibly all, LFR adventures allow copy/paste. I create booklets using a printer which has that ability built into its driver (though as I have an old Windows only printer I'm having to use Parallels and Windows 7 to get that to work). Adobe Reader 8 on the Mac can do booklet printing, I think. (Avoid Reader 9 - it doesn't work as well in a number of areas). Reader 8 also has a better font renderer than Preview/MacOS so it correctly displays some fonts which won't display on other Mac readers.
#4 JasonDenton Sep 10, 2010 12:58:17	I had really been hoping to avoid installing Adobe Acrobat on my mac; too many problems over the years as your correctly identify as the case of acrobat 9. Copy and paste does work, but only for text. Extracting whole pages with images and formatting in tact, is forbidden. This of course is what would make it easier to send lore pages to players. Getting booklet printing right also requires that you print the mod exactly as presented in order to get page ordering right. No skipping some pages. This may seem like a very minor thing, but I don't need the lower tier stat blocks. Especially at the H1 tier, I know the local group is going to smoke the high tier thanks to power creep. I also don't need to waste trees on the standard broiler plate. Again, I do understand the need to protect the rights of the authors and wizards. But the value of these mods for those parties is their usefulness in promoting the game. Encrypting the PDFs doesn't really contribute to that but does make it difficult to manipulate them in useful ways. All of which makes me wonder is it might be worth considering releasing mods under a creative commons license of some sort. I understand that authors will no longer be paid for their mods. Perhaps authors could release their work under the CC license, and then wizards could review and bless the best ones for RPGA play?
#5 kenobi65 Sep 10, 2010 14:40:47	As LFR uses various things for which WotC claims ownership (the FR intellectual property, the 4E rules), I'm not sure that they'd be willing to either: a) Release LFR modules under Creative Commons b) "Bless" home-written modules which haven't gone through some level of vetting Now, LFR won't be considered to be canon going forward (which has meant that all LFR modules have had to be approved for plot content by WotC's FR folks), but I do believe that WotC still has a vested interest in maintaining a level of control on LFR publications.
#6 Madfox11 Sep 10, 2010 15:31:52	Now, LFR won't be considered to be canon going forward (which has meant that all LFR modules have had to be approved for plot content by WotC's FR folks), but I do believe that WotC still has a vested interest in maintaining a level of control on LFR publications. Correct. In fact, giving the Globals a bit more direct control over contents is more a show of confidence in their experience in knowing what WotC wants and does not want. I am sure it will be revoked real quick if we abuse it.
#7 JasonDenton Sep 11, 2010 13:12:26	Perhaps the last half of my last sentence got missed. I'll quote it again. "Perhaps authors could release their work under the CC license, and then wizards could review and bless the best ones for RPGA play?" Wizards seems to be somewhat conflicted (as companys get) about what it is trying to accomplish vs. what it is willing to allow. High control is fine when your paying people to write mods. The writer gets the check. Wizards gets the copyright. But the moment you decide to stop paying the community (or somebody) to write the mods, the relationship has to change. If they're going to have staff adapt dungeon mods, or otherwise write the mods in house, great. Copyright and licensing is pretty clear in this case. If they're going to try and get the community to write stuff for free, then vetting and blessing the best of them is the best they are going to get because if they're not paying, authors aren't going to turn over their copyrights. All of which is getting off topic. Encrypting the PDFs so they are hard to manipulate seems to be run counter to what wizards is trying to achieve with the program. Its understandable under a 1980s view of copyright. But it's 2010. Things like the CC license exist to allow copyright holders to extend the ability to manipulate a work to its uses, while still retaining and protecting their own rights.
#8 kenobi65 Sep 11, 2010 14:05:00	In an environment in which reviewing the contracted LFR modules is a bottleneck, and stretches the available staff, do you honestly think that the LFR staff has the bandwidth to review dozens, if not hundreds, of fan-written modules? When LFR has numerous modules which are behind schedule on being released (some of which are now a year late), would this be the best use of the staff's limited time?
#9 ibixat Sep 26, 2010 6:22:25	This may sound crazy but I find that a pdf printer driver often works best for this. if I need a page from a locked pdf I will "print" to a pdf file the page I need and go from there, I use dopdf on my pc I have no clue what you'd need on the mac. You can also go through and print out basically the pages you want in whatever order to the pdf printer and then do what you please with that output pdf... There may be some quality loss in images and what not but if you experiment enough it will probably be something you won't be able to notice.