Adobe PDF Files
Copyright 2003, 2005, 2012 by Ronald B. Standler
How to Read a PDF
Essays that I first posted after 1 Feb 2003 are posted only in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).
Documents in PDF can be displayed in a webbrowser
using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Most recent computers have a webbrowser and Acrobat Reader
already installed on the hard disk drive
by the computer manufacturer.
Users of older computers will need to go to the
Adobe website
and download a copy of Acrobat Reader,
then install Acrobat Reader on the user's computer.
Instructions are posted at the Adobe website.
If you use the Opera webbrowser, look
here.
The early PDF files at my website are compatible with Adobe Acrobat
version 3.0 and higher.
Beginning in April 2011, I have been using stronger encryption,
which requires at least version 5 of Acrobat.
Why PDF files?
Since I first began posting essays on the Internet in 1997, I have been
bothered by several kinds of infringements of my copyrights:
- Copies of my entire essays, or long sections from my essays,
have been posted on the Internet, without my permission, in violation of my
terms of service and in violation of my copyrights.
Some of these people also deleted my name from my essay,
thus plagiarizing my work: fraudulently representing my work as theirs.
- I often receive e-mails from attorneys and employees of for-profit corporations
seeking free advice from me on a problem that they are being paid to
solve. Their e-mail often says that they have printed out a copy of one
or more of my essays, but they failed to pay the required licensing
fee to me, as required in my
terms of service.
I believe that it is inequitable for those attorneys
and employees to be paid, and to receive credit,
for the information in my unpaid work.
I am not on salary:
I earn my living as a attorney and consultant in solo practice
by selling information and advice about law, science, and technology.
More about this exploitation of my work.
- Given the epidemic of plagiarism in colleges
in the USA and the dramatic increase in the rate of hits on my website
at the end of each semester (i.e., November/December and March/April),
I am certain that many students are cutting and pasting long sections
of my essays into their term papers, without citing me as the source.
I even receive occasional e-mail from students asking me to prepare
a bibliography for one of my essays (apparently so they can use my essay
as their term paper without their being bothered to prepare a bibliography)!
There has been significant economic loss to me from the violation of
my copyrights and my terms of service. In the year 2002, there were a total
of 362,527 hits on my professional website. If just 2% of these hits
had resulted in payment of a $4 royalty to me, I would have received $29,000.
Instead, I actually received a total of only $44 in copyright royalty payments during 2002.
This calculation of $29,000 in the previous paragraph
ignores the royalties due to me when someone prints
one copy from my website (i.e., one hit) and then reproduces that
copy with a photocopy machine for further distribution to students or employees.
I have no way of estimating how often such further distribution occurs, but
occasional e-mails to me confess that it has happened.
In the year 2011, there were a total
of 1,382,572 hits on my professional website. If just 1% of these hits
had resulted in payment of a $4 royalty to me, I would have received $55,000.
That royalty would have paid for my time and expenses to research and write
between two and four new essays.
Instead, I actually received zero copyright royalty payments during 2011.
To stop these abuses of my copyrighted essays, all new essays that I post
after 1 Feb 2003 will be posted at my website in Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF), with security features enabled
to disable printing and to disable cut-and-paste from my essays.
The fact that my earlier essays remain on my websites in HTML format
in no way condones the continuing violations of my copyrights and
the continuing violations of my
terms of service.
Disabling printing and disabling cut-and-paste is necessary to prevent both
(1) businesses and attorneys from exploiting my unpaid work
and (2) plagiarism.
The inconvenience to honest people who respect copyrights is akin to higher prices
in stores to compensate for shoplifters and pilferers.
this document is at http://www.rbs2.com/adobe.htm
first posted 5 March 2003, revised 5 Mar 2012
return to my homepage