

"Save a tree" with the WWF's new unprintable "green" PDF format - jarin
http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/home.html

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jws
Of all the silliness. There is already a "no printing" flag in PDF.

Bit position 3 of the 'P' key in the standard encryption dictionary. Page 61
of
[http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/PD...](http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/PDF32000_2008.pdf)

On OS X when you print to PDF you can adjust the security options to forbid
printing.

(Um, not that I've made modified version of xpdf or anything… but I had a
legal right to print that document and DMCA wasn't dreamt of yet.)

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jarin
I don't know if they got the memo that paper comes from sustainable tree farms
that _plant_ trees. Pretty sure Weyerhauser isn't flying down to South America
to chop down virgin rainforests.

~~~
robwgibbons
True, but it does create a lot of waste.

~~~
potatolicious
Almost 100% recyclable waste - with the exception of commercial glossy print
(I _hate_ glossy print) almost all paper products nowadays are recyclable.

I'd attack the horrifyingly wasteful, and deceptively un-recyclable bottling
industry. Depending on the recycling capabilities of your area, if you throw
away plastic soda bottles with the cap _on_ , it very well could go into the
landfill.

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farktronix
I downloaded the app and tried it out. They're saving files as regular PDFs
with a .wwf extension. This causes the files to open in their app, but if you
rename the file to .pdf you can open it in other PDF viewing apps just fine.
They set a password on the PDF to restrict re-saving or printing.

Dumping the strings on their binary turns up genRandStringLength:, so I'm
guessing they're generating a string of random characters and setting that as
the password on the PDF.

They're just shipping a modified version of Skim (<http://skim-
app.sourceforge.net>) embedded inside their own app to do the PDF viewing.

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tobtoh
These sort of 'green' gimmicks really annoy me. I'm a strong supporter of
being environmentally conscious and taking actions to minimize our
environmental footprint. However I am a bigger supporter of the idea that if
you are going to take an action, make it really count and for it to be long
lasting.

Virtually no-one is going to download a unique .wwf file viewer (and most
office environments where pdf usage would be rife are probably locked down
anyway). So straight away it fails. Greenies will often say that this sort of
campaign builds 'awareness', and that it's not really about results - which is
exactly what annoys me - we seldom need more awareness about issues, what we
need is real practical ways to make a difference.

Instead of 'creating' a .wwf format, why not base their campaign around
educating people how to turn on the _built-in_ 'disable print' capability that
is part of the standard pdf format?!? They achieve their 'gimmick' around
paper conservation, but also actually give people the knowledge on how to
actually make an ongoing 'difference' since pdfs will be around for a long
time, unique .wwf viewers won't.

~~~
jeffb
You don't need to download a unique .wwf file "viewer" according to the
website:

"WWF documents can be opened with most programs that can open PDFs."

<http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/faqs.html>

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cmelbye
If I got a file in this format from someone, I think I would download the
software, take screenshots of the document pages, and print them off.

~~~
brc
I would send it back and ask for a version I can read.

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gus_massa
Reasons to print a PDF:

* I want to read it in the bus.

* I want to make annotations with a pen (with colors).

* I want to compare two versions.

* ...

I try to print the documents only when it is necessary, but sometime I really
need to print them and I want to be free to do it.

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whackedspinach
Anyone who sends me a file in this format is going to be ignored. I have seen
stupid DRM, but this is ridiculous.

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drcode
Coming soon: The ecofriendly WWF car that doesn't drive.

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wccrawford
If it can't be opened by standard PDF software, it's not a PDF.

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anigbrowl
I think it's a good idea in principle, make it available and let the market
decide. No windows yet? Foolish. But: no samples, no specifications, no source
code, no technical details...no thanks.

Well, you can find one sample: <http://www.saveaswwf.com/en/press.html> But
not many English readers are going to download a document in German. As for
the printing, it just looks like a limited document permission with an secret
password. Ooooh, a secret password, on PDF specification 1.3.

Removal instructions:
[http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/anon21jul01-pdf-
enc...](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/anon21jul01-pdf-
encryption.txt)

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dsspence
Now let's calculate the excessive energy required to launch adobe acrobat and
install a new security patch weekly.

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colinsidoti
Who wants to start a company? I just registered WWFtoPDF.com and WWF2PDF.com

~~~
theDoug
I'd happily join you, but if I weren't already convinced the format will go
nowhere, I'd assume it this whole campaign was a publicity stunt on the part
of the WWF.

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mdonahoe
"Weird... I can't print this PDF... oh well, I will just screenshot it and
paste it into a Word doc."

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dhughes
I hope this is one step closer to having PDF documents die in the most
horrible twisted way possible, I hate it with every essence of my being.

Not for "green" reason but for bloat reasons and having the updater pop up at
work which seems like every day.

~~~
drivebyacct2
Uh don't use Adobe. Problem solved. "I hate Fords, when are we going to stop
using cars."

~~~
dhughes
It's not that simple, it's on the desktops in most offices already it's not
that I want to use it but most offices have it installed so it makes it hard
to get away from them. It's not Adobe I dislike it's the pdf itself, well yeah
Adobe too.

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brc
I'm heartened to see that pointless gestures don't fly with this crowd. Not
one single supportive comment in the entire block.

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negritude
PDF Unlock should be able to handle these:

<http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/35106/pdf-unlock>

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brianwillis
How does this work? Some kind of DRM wrapper over PDF?

~~~
devinj
It doesn't.

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robwgibbons
This is kind of a dumb idea, even on paper (pardon the pun). Deliberately
crippling print functionality is a little gimmicky, despite the good
intentions of the WWF.

