copyright encryption
Can publishing restrictions be &quot;circumvented&quot; by encrypting the contents?
<p>Let's say I've legally purchased a copy of <code>Best Book Ever.pdf</code>, and the item is copyrighted and I'm not allowed to publish it. Can I encrypt it and store it online on an open server without telling anyone the password? If yes, can I circumvent the &quot;no publishing&quot; restriction by simply setting a weak password and uploading it online, such that anyone can download and crack the password?</p>
<p>To clarify:</p>
<ol>
<li>The file is hosted on a public server. Everyone knows it's there and what it is.</li>
<li>The file is encrypted with an unknown but very weak password</li>
<li>Anyone who downloads the file and cracks the password is doing so illegally without my consent. I simply don't report most cases.</li>
<li>Without the password, the file is just another blob of random data</li>
<li>If someone reports me for copyright infringement, I can say that they stole my file without my consent, as it was encrypted (2).</li>
</ol>
<p>Question: Can I use point 5 to invalidate the evidence?</p>

<p>You can't copy the book in any way shape or form without permission, that is what copyright protection means. You can't convert if from one format to another, you can't OCR it to a PDF or image-scan a print book into a big picture file. There is a gray tolerance or license area where you may have permission to install multiple copies on a personal device, but there is no exception that says &quot;you can freely distribute a copy to the public if you change it in such-and-such way&quot;. Making an unreadable copy that can be accessed by the world is not allows: the fact of making a file unreadable does not negate the protections of copyright law.</p>
<p>There is a limited workaround in classroom settings, where instructors may make a part of a work available to enrolled students in the class, which involves an interaction between fair use and statutory library copying privileges, which observationally is a large escape hatch that has not been firmly slammed shut by the courts, where access to works so distributed is supposed to be strictly limited – it stands in for putting a physical copy &quot;on reserve&quot; which students can check out for a short period to make their own copies. That is not what you are describing.</p>
<p>You are liable for infringement that results from your posting of the work, so the main question is whether you engaged in willful infringement, which makes you subject to really big statutory damages (up to $150,000), What you describe (using weak encryption e.g. 8 bit encryption or '123' as the password) will almost certainly be found to be willful infringement. The more important question is whether you intended to put it where others could find it. For instance, if you put a link to it on your home page under &quot;free books&quot; then that was plainly an attempt to distribute.</p>
<p>is will</p>
