: Re: How to prevent ebook piracy from stealing your livelihood? I'm a part-time writer, still working on my novel (with a long term goal to make a living as a writer). My partner is also a writer,

@Gail2416123

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Watermarking.

This is common with high-priced (>) documents, such as building codes and scientific journal articles. The downloaded file will include "Purchased by User@Example.Com" in the footer of each page and a unique ID in the meta-data. If the file ends up in the wild or in the black market, the publisher knows from who to seek damages.

Technical solutions can only discourage copying. Once copying happens, your problem is legal, not technical. It's up to you to enforce your copyright, so it's to your benefit to make enforcement as easy as possible. Easy enforcement also discourages anybody who fears litigation.

Watermarking is an option only if the publisher offers the feature, because the file must be dynamically generated for each customer. Also, watermarking relies on customers' identity being authenticated. Credit card transactions may offer a path to an identity, but anonymous payment methods won't work.

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