How secure is Flash for a delivery technology for password protected digital content?

1

We are working on a project that would be a competitor to Yudu for online publishing and what we are debating is whether to use Flash for content security protection as Yudu does.

See for example "The Testicle Cookbok" for which a limited (3-frame) preview is available before a password is requested by the Flash application running in the browser.

Do you see any problems with this approach or could you recommend an alternative technology for password proected digital content?

Merkel Fastia

Posted 2009-12-14T21:30:48.953

Reputation: 275

This is quite the "example" you picked for to place here!! – Pimp Juice IT – 2016-09-24T07:18:02.987

Answers

2

Let me start by saying - THAT LINK IS SICK!!! (And I actually mean sick, not the good sort!)

Next, no DRM is 100% fool proof and usually just ends up annoying the hell out of end users.

I can easily take a picture from that link you sent me. If I really wanted to, I could take a picture of each one and then assemble to a PDF.

Having password protected flash simply adds a tiny barrier, but not much.

It is better than nothing, but any sort of DRM that limits what the end user can do is not good... If I was buying an Ebook that did not let me copy to a Ebook reader, print, reuse and keep for the next xxx years

Why not just have PDF files and standard password protection / user login?

William Hilsum

Posted 2009-12-14T21:30:48.953

Reputation: 111 572

@Wil: Yes, I hope that link did not cause any emotional discomfort :) But I have to disagree with you about the idea of taking pictures. As you can see, the preview is limited to the first few pages of the book, which would seem to be adequate for my project too. Why do you believe password protected flash only adds a tiny barrier? – Merkel Fastia – 2009-12-14T21:43:13.077

1It isn't just about password protecting THE flash, it is about password protecting the content... If you are giving it all in one package, it is most likely possible to disassemble or hexedit and bypass the password screen... You are much better off skipping the flash and just having a plain simple secure infrastructure - password protect the access page etc... if that makes any sense – William Hilsum – 2009-12-14T21:52:50.547

Asked: 2009-12-14T21:30:48.953

Viewed: 139 times

Active: 2016-09-24T07:14:10.233