How to stop my course files being copied

How to stop my course files being copied

by Kevin Sowden -
Number of replies: 11
Does anyone know the best way to stop users copying and printing out the course document. Perhaps stopping the right click, the select and the print button? Is there a plug in or some way of changing the HTML on each page? Am quite new to Moodle
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In reply to Kevin Sowden

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Tim Hunt -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
The only solution is to not put the documents online. Or, in fact don't give them to your students in any medium whatsoever. They probably have mobile phones with cameras.

You have to realise that you are asking the wrong questions.

Of course, copying documents without the copyright holder's permission is illegal in most places, and morally wrong. Tthat is something that everyone needs to learn. However it is not something that has a technical solution.

(And while we are on the subject of things people would do well to learn about information, I would add: the advantages of options like creating commons and open source licenses.)
In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by rupert mackenzie -

Hi

I am also looking to stop right click and print. I understand there will always be a way of copying (cameras etc.), but I would like to make it a little more difficult. Would you know how to prevent right clck copy and print?

Thanks

Rupert

In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
Rupert.... variations on this "how do I stop people stealing my stuff" comes up as regular as clockwork.

Please excuse my bluntness but it is thinking about things from the wrong angle completely. Yes there are things you can do to make it more difficult but the workarounds for these tricks are mostly trivial. Add to this that if your material has any value then your users will soon find the workaround. If they don't bother to ask Google for the workaround then is the material of any value in the first place?
In reply to Howard Miller

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by rupert mackenzie -

Sure, I agree, but I still want the functionality for certain aspects of the course, ie. assessments. It is not my wish but that of the accrediting body. I just needd to get this done.

I have found some software for doing this, would you know if this is any good?

http://www.antssoft.com/htmlprotector/index.htm

Thanks

Rupert

In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Kevin Sowden -
There are loads of programming techniques that you can find for free on the net. You do not need to pay for this software. Just search for each of the softwares features in google and integrating them into moodle however I am not sure how. But I am sure there is a way smile
In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Andrea Bicciolo -
Rupert, as far as I can understand the tool garbles source code of your html pages. But html pages will still be rendered by browsers, so your content will display nicely as before.
In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Hans B0s -

Hi Rupert,

Are you sure you need a technical solution?

If it's about a -the accrediting body- of some kind. Than it could be that you need legal advice about how to handle the legal stuff and to find out if the technical stuff is really needed.

Expect there’s a more non-technical solution to this.

Hans.

In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Hubert Chathi -
From that site:
Disable Opera users - EXCLUSIVE!

People using the Opera browser will be able to use the right-click menu on protected page even if "Disable right mouse button" option has been applied. This option gives you the ability to block all Opera users from viewing your pages.
Disable Mozilla users - EXCLUSIVE!

People using Mozilla based web browser (Netscape 6.X, Netscape 7.X and FireFox, etc) will make some protection options useless. You may choose this option to prevent Mozilla users from accessing your pages.


So some (most?) of their protection mechanisms are useless unless you prevent people from using certain browsers. Sounds like a very bad idea.

(Yes, it does seem to be fairly trivial to get around their basic protection under FireFox.)

Not to mention the fact that some of the points on that page are complete nonsense. (e.g. "This disables the ability to save your page to local cache. It is useful to prevent e-mail grabbers from extracting the addresses from your site.")
In reply to rupert mackenzie

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers
It 'obfusticates' your source code. Pretty much pointless and not very difficult to get around - clue: download 'NoScript' for Firefox.

I know this is no help whatsoever but I wouldn't take on a job where the client insisted on something so crazy.
In reply to Howard Miller

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by nicole hackett -
Hello Rupert,

Have you thought about just putting the basic outline of the courses online so that no one would be able to copy the exact version of your course because there is not enough information to copy? Also, maybe trying different methods of course delivery such as teleconference, webinars and/or podcasts that are only available for limited amounts of time?

Unfortunately, if things are on paper, there are always going to be those people who can figure out how to access it without authorization.

Nicole Hackett
In reply to nicole hackett

Re: How to stop my course files being copied

by rupert mackenzie -
Thanks everyone for your contributions. I agree, it's a little bit nonsensical, but I need to be able to do it. I'll try a free version and see if it works in Moodle.

Thanks

Rupert