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| press release, October 2001 |
Educational case studies take the lead with encryption technology
ecch is a non-profit organisation whose primary role is the distribution of case studies for management education. Historically this activity has been paper based, photocopying the required number of copies from a paper master and shipping them to customers, mainly business schools and universities. However during the last few years this process has changed dramatically. Firstly with the introduction of pdf format which permitted electronic distribution independent of software and hardware compatibility and secondly the introduction of DRM software which allowed ecch to fulfil its obligation to protect the copyright of contributors.
ecch reviewed the available DRM software and selected dotEncrypt because it met their requirements in terms of functionality, ease of use and commercial considerations. Currently ecch are taking two approaches to electronic distribution - electronic masters and electronic multiples. An electronic master is a secure copy of a case study that is e-mailed to a customer with a single licence and the facility to print a single copy from which paper multiples may be printed locally. The process takes minutes and is especially beneficial to overseas customers and saves both time and shipping cost.
The provision of electronic multiples is again a secure copy of a case study that this time has multiple licences attached to provide access to authorised students. This secure case study can be e-mailed to students, placed on an intranet, a CD or hosted by ecch. This process has many advantages in terms of ease of distribution, last minute and even real time changes and very specific control of access period. However the overwhelming benefit to ecch is that they can confidently meet customers' demands to access files electronically knowing that copyright cannot be infringed whether inadvertently through ignorance or deliberately through malice. The need to ensure that case studies cannot be shared with colleagues, used beyond the specified time period or instantly e-mailed to numerous people were essential requirements. ecch is able to achieve this with dotEncrypt but in addition also monitor authorised usage to ensure that infringements are not taking place.
"We also appreciate the way we are able to work with Webgenerics to ensure that the dotEncrypt software meets the particular requirements of ecch, who are not by any means traditional publishers," commented ecch Assistant Director Alyson Campbell.
26 October 2001
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