The PDF Viewer introduced in Firefox 19 does not enforce all of the permissions that can be set on a PDF. I'm not sure whether this was an intentional decision or an oversight.

Earlier thread with the same issue: Firefox 19.0 pdf viewer ignores pdf encryption - how do I get it to honor the encryption?

I haven't searched Bugzilla or the pdf.js github issues list to see whether there is a plan to change this.

I would assume you are using the intrinsic Firefox JS solution and not the Adobe PDF plugin, is this correct? If this is so, I would call it a bug.

I have entered a bug just in case (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=877704). Better be safe than sorry.

Let's see how fast this gets answered / fixed.

Regards

PS: one can disable the js solution:

View PDF files in Firefox or choose another viewer

but I think in your case it probably will not help.

hello frankert, the no-print permission isn't an effective security feature but a mere DRM-placebo. there are other pdf-readers out there which won't follow these restrictions and free online tools where you can scrap any document of this no-print permission.

there has been ongoing discussions by mozilla's developers in bug reports if these permissions should be honored, but in my judgement its rather unlikely that this will land someday (also because firefox has a focus on openness and user-control). the pdf viewer in firefox renders the documents as websites & there also is no way to protect a website from being printed...

edit: @smo, there already is bug 792816 & quite a few duplicates on the same issue

edit: @smo, there already is bug 792816 & quite a few duplicates on the same issue

I checked to avoid duplicates, but could not see any in the PDF viewer corner.

Thank you all for the comments. We choose a PDF instead of placing the text on the website because the information is also sold in print next to it. Reason enough not to unlock it by print.

Yes we know that passwords bypass is posible, even we are not happy with that. openness on the web is fine, but this is more a limitation of the possibilities of the Internet than an improvement.

If anyone has any suggestions to solve this problem yet in another way, please let me know.

Hi frankert, is your goal to provide free online/offline reading of the entire PDF on a screen -- but not on paper?? I'm not sure I see the future in that...

I think the best way to make it hard to print the entire thing would be to make it an awesome screen experience, with pagination determined by natural content breaks, and hyperlinking/bookmarking and other interactive features. You could offer a brief sample excerpt in PDF or eBook format and think about selling the full versions. The few eBooks I've purchased have my name and/or email stamped on each page, which I assume is intended to deter sharing.

see the bug pdf.js doesn't respect document permissions for extensive discussion of the issue (btw, my bug was de-duplicated right away).

What about making it kind of honey-pot way? Displaying the summary, or the first few paragraphs, similar to the way Amazon shows selected pages in the book I am interested in.