PDF restrictions (was: Re: Evince update and release)

[Christian Persch <chpe gnome org>]

Hi,

Le samedi 21 mai 2005 �1:06 -0400, Jonathan Blandford a �it :
> Once the release is done, I'd like to try to get the properties dialog
> into CVS.  I'm also planning on looking at permissions, if no one else
> beats me to it. 

I assume this refers to the following entry on the Roadmap
[http://live.gnome.org/Evince_2fRoadmap]:

"Permissions. At least as a ./configure option, it should be possible to
make evince respect the permissions in the document" ?

AFAIK, this means that the producer of the PDF can specify that the user
--- as long as he's using an application which implements these
restrictions --- cannot copy text or graphics from the document, and not
print (or only print at low quality setting) the document. (I'm ignoring
the bits about editing and annotating, since evince doesn't support that
yet.)

Could you explain the rationale for implementing this in evince? I'm
concerned about these points:

* Legalities: Since RH distributes evince in FC4 in its current form
(i.e. without restrictions), that has to mean that they've decided that
it's legal NOT to implement those restrictions. By implementing them,
would the configure switch (or a gconf key, or whatever) to disable it,
become 'circumvention' and make building or distributing evince compiled
without it --- or even the existence of the 'off'-switch in the source
code itself --- illegal (at least in the US)?

* By implementing restrictions, you take away the user's freedom: to
read the document on paper instead of killing his eyesight, and to
copy/paste parts of the work, as permitted by fair use (or equivalents
in other jurisdictions). GNOME software should work for the user, not
against him.

* Accessibility: How will this interfere with accessibility, once evince
gains a11y support?

Regards,
	Christian