Re: Security (was Re: Style Sheets for HTML)

Liam Relihan <relihanl@ul.ie>
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Date: Wed, 1 Jun 1994 16:13:27 +0200
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From: Liam Relihan <relihanl@ul.ie>
To: Multiple recipients of list <www-talk@www0.cern.ch>
Subject: Re: Security (was Re: Style Sheets for HTML)
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On Wed, 1 Jun 1994, Fisher Mark wrote:

> 
> Rainer Klute said in <9405312209.AA00939@tommy.informatik.uni-dortmund.de>:
> >Nope, because you cannot disable e. g. taking a photograph of the screen.
> >Or you disable displaying the secure data at all. :-(
> 
> The only way to stop copying is at the operating system level -- no MS or X 
> Windows Clipboard, no screen shots, no copying of any data at all.  If the 
> data can be copied in some close to clear-text form, it can be compromised. 
>  Just look at how many commercial versions of UNIX now implement shadow 
> password files.  If you want to protect the data, you have to completely 
> protect the data.

I think we should stay sensible about this screen copying thing. Lets face it,
copying a large document screen by screen is enough to drive you scatty.

I reckon that small-scale screen copying of some sort should be allowed. For
instance, suppose I download a medical document which I would like to
reference in my bibliography --- in that case I would like to be able to
copy the title and paste it into my bibliographic software. Surely this
cannot be wrong. If all kinds of copying are disabled, we risk angering users
to the point where they start cracking and begin using non-compliant software.



Liam

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