Re: Purchasing The Standard

From: tom_usenet (tom_usenet_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/08/04 

Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:24:40 +0100

On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 12:47:56 -0700, Julie <julie@nospam.com> wrote:

>> I dare say this comes under "fair use".
>
>I highly doubt that -- you are deliberately circumventing the imposed
>protection scheme. I'm no expert on the subject, but I'd say that you are
>either violating the copyright license or getting into a very gray area. Now
>take into account the disgusting piece of legislation called the DMCA and
>similar (pending) legislation, you just lost your case.

However, I didn't circumvent the copy protection of the document,
simply the fact that the text copy functionality is disabled in Adobe
Acrobat. I used Ghostscript, where no such functionality restriction
exists. I don't think this comes under circumventing copy protection.
Until someone decides that Ghostscript is illegal under the DCMA, I
think there's no problem and no infringement.

> If you have any further questions about this, don't bother asking me
>as I'm no expert, just offering my opinion, but go directly to the source.
>Contact the committee and ask if what you did is within your license or legal
>rights, in their opinion. I'm sure many would be interested in the response.

They removed the copy protection back in 2000 or so (it seems it was a
mistake), so I doubt they'd have anything to say about it.

>> >> I think the main reason they went with PDF was copyright - each PDF
>> >> they sell is uniquely watermarked to say who bought it (and therefore
>> >> who is passing it around illegally).
>> >
>> >I'm not a fan of the 'punish the majority on behalf of the minority criminal'.
>>
>> I think copying of the standard is fairly rife as it is. If the format
>> wasn't traceable to the buyer, I suspect it would be a lot worse.
>>
>> >Like I said, the utility value of the content is greatly reduced w/ such a
>> >restrictive format such as PDF.
>>
>> You've said that, but you haven't yet backed it up. Are you unable to
>> find what you're looking for? Why? How would another format help? I've
>> not heard your complaint before from others, which implies that most
>> are not finding it too much of a problem.
>
>I don't have specifics relating to the standard, as I don't own a PDF copy, nor
>have I illegitimately (or otherwise) viewed one.

So, in other words, you don't really know what you're talking about.
You can see an HTML version of the draft here:
http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/open/n2356/

(The PDF is superior to that HTML version - the whole document can be
searched rather than just a single chapter, and the contents links are
far finer grained).

> However, I have read many PDF
>documents (as most have), and find the use of the PDF format terrible for
>information retrieval.

Again, in what way do you find it terrible? You're great at making
unsupported assertions - I've noted it in other threads, where
eventually you gracelessly admit you're wrong.

>That you haven't heard my complaint before implies absolutely nothing other
>than you haven't heard my complaint before.

Given that I regularly read comp.std.c++, it implies that no one else
is bothered. The only complaints I have heard in 4 or 5 years are
about the $18 cost and the fact that the old .PDF was text copy
disabled.

>Like I've been saying, and you have been inadvertently supporting, the PDF
>format is *not* suitable for information retrieval with so many other
>more-useful formats available.

But you still haven't given one concrete fact to support this. Is a
book a terrible format for information retrieval? Why would anyone buy
a textbook? A PDF is just a book with instant contents navigation and
a text search facility...

Tom 

-- 
C++ FAQ: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/
C FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html

Relevant Pages

  • Re: PDF is blocked for printing, etc. OK for acroread (it behaves as expected), but KPDF allows me t
    ... Luca.Merciadri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx did gyre and gimble: ... ML> benefits of a format like PDF? ... There is no "real" protection. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Behind the Times? (was Re: Conventions)
    ... >>> I wouldn't be surprised if there's software for turning >> pdf text into ascii. ... One of the useful features of a PDF is that you can ... circumvented which makes the PDF format less effective at protecting the ... better protection will be found. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.fandom)
  • Re: vector drawing?
    ... Best Format for Placing Vector Graphics ... printers, it doesn't do well on their B&W Brother & HP printers. ... Just another opinion, but for a logo I'd use Illy's Export as PDF - In fact, ...
    (microsoft.public.word.drawing.graphics)
  • Re: linux-flashplugin7
    ... That presumably still has a fibre or copper backbone. ... Wouldn't mind if they followed up that with the flash format. ... Same goes for things being released in PDF. ... I would prefer the format specs to be open over them ...
    (comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc)
  • Re: No Word 2007 Viewer?
    ... I forget that sometimes because while I have PDF creating ... Word 2007 was used to create it in Word 2007 format. ... come out with a genuine Word 2007 viewer at some point. ... You simply can't access new Word 2007-only features unless you're ...
    (microsoft.public.word.conversions)