Question Go Play In Space PDF Password :)

[n122vu]

I don't see how this is copyright infringement. Printing something for personal use when you already legally have a digital copy is fair use, isn't it?

Of course there could be other reasons for circumventing this password, and some of them probably are copyright infringements. But that doesn't mean that circumventing / cracking the protection is a copyright infringement in itself.

PDF is an open standard. There are probably plenty of free PDF viewers (have a look at sourceforge.net for instance). There must be at least one of them which ignores passwords. IIRC, I can view 'Go Play In Space' in the PDF viewer in Linux, so the document probably doesn't use some kind of super-secret DRM.

Once you can open the PDF, you can try to print it. If you have a PDF printer installed, you can redirect print output to another PDF file, which you can then send to your 3rd party printing company.

Edit:
I just tried it, and I can open it in Linux. The document itself explicitly mentions that printing for personal use is permitted.
When all else fails, you can still make screen shots of the PDF, and print these. But you probably don't want to do that for > 180 pages.

I'm not talking about printing of the document being copyright infringement. I've printed it out myself.

Look at the screenshot. There's a security method dropdown box that says "None." That's what he's trying to change. That drop down box is not visible/selectable in Adobe Reader (see attached). He's opening in Adobe Acrobat (writer). The only thing that would require a password would be trying to change those security settings or remove the password protection. Doing so without the author's consent is a form of circumvention/cracking, but not necessarily copyright infringement. Legal or not, the forum rules are clear about asking for help with such actions, which was my main point.

 

[ar81]

Tutorial piracy...???

 

[n122vu]

Tutorial piracy...???

I know, I know, it sounds silly. But still, this document is more or less the intellectual property of the authors, is it not?

Again, my point is not that he is trying to pirate anything from the document, but rather that he came to the forum asking for the password. He could have just as easily emailed the authors asking for it, since their email addresses are in the included readme. If anyone would know it, they would be the ones to contact. The worst they could do is say no & that they protected it for a reason, in which case continuing to try and get the password would indeed be piracy.

Wasn't trying to make a big deal about the piracy part, just wanted to clarify the forum rules since it was one of his first posts. Sorry if I made a mountain out of an anthill.