ECMS: cactus

SCOPE Electronic Copyright Management System (Cactus)

Introduction

One of the aims of the SCOPE project is to deliver learning resources to students in a number of higher education institutions throughout Scotland via the internet. The provision of on-line study material relies heavily on being able to demonstrate to publishers and other copyright holders that the project is able to control access, protect copyright material, monitor all transactions, calculate royalty payments as well as being able to deliver the authorised documents to accredited users.

The system should be able to deliver materials to as wide a range of hardware/software configurations as possible without compromising user systems operations.

The systems should also provide as much management information as possible to enable interested parties to analyse reports on their own areas of interest.

A typical user-based transaction

Basic system information

There are two types of user-based transaction:

1.: view only; and
2.: view and print.

Viewing a SCOPE resource requires an Adobe Acrobat Reader to be present on the user's computer. To print a SCOPE resource, the SCOPE Acrobat Module (SAM) must be present. This consists of Acrobat Exchange and a specially written plug-in which will communicate with the Cactus system.

A user will be guided to a SCOPE Resource web page (SRP), probably from a link on his/her campus web service. The SRP will offer the user a choice of displaying a 'browse' list of available chapters or articles (resources), segregated into courses, or a search engine enabling the user to search for documents by author name or document title (or part of it). Selection of a document from the browse list or search results will display bibliographic details of the requested document. This will also display a link to the Acrobat PDF document.

On selecting a PDF file, the student will be asked to complete a simple form which will request certain details in order to verify the authorisation status of the user. This completed form will then be posted to the Cactus system which will check the details against the registration database. In addition, the Internet connection will pass data including the location of the computer, the web browser and type of computer being used, to the webserver and this can also be checked against the database.

If the user is authorised to print the document and the SAM is present on the user's computer, then it will be launched and a message indicating print authorisation status will be sent from Cactus to the SAM. This message is invisible to the user. Depending on the requirements of the user's institution, a visible message detailing cost implications of printing may be displayed. The user will then be allowed to view and print the document (copy, cut and paste will be disabled). The printed document will also contain a 'watermark' consisting of the user's identity together with the date of the transaction. The user may print only one copy of any authorised document. This feature will be controlled by the Cactus database.

The user will then complete the print process and be returned to the SRP. This feature will enable the project to determine the length of time the PDF file was visible on the user's screen (but not how long it was actually being viewed). Quitting the browser will prevent this data being sent back.

One problem which is likely to occur during the print process is a malfunction with the printer. As the printer is independent from the SAM, malfunctions will not be reported back to Cactus, therefore a manual intervention must be made. Certain staff at the user's institution will be authorised to make interventions to the database to reset the print authorisation.

When such an intervention takes place, an e-mail message will be generated by Cactus and sent to the system administrator. Payment reports will be filtered to show only one transaction per user per document (no multiples) though separate reports will be available showing interventions.

If the user has no authorisation to print the document, then it will be supplied to him/her in view only format (copy, cut and paste also disabled).

Security Features

The PDF documents will reside on the webserver in encrypted form. These may be decrypted by means of access via an Acrobat Reader (within a participating institution).

Up to eight security checks will be made on PDF documents:

1.: Is the connection being made from a participating institution ?
2.: What type of authorisation does the user have ?
3.: In the case of print authorisation, has the user entered the correct password ?
4.: Is the SAM present on the user's computer ?
5.: Is the user requesting PDF files relevant to his/her course ?
6.: The user's identity and transaction date will appear on each page of printed documents.
7.: Any interventions will be notified to the system administrator.
8.: Each step in any user-server transaction process will be recorded and stored in a database within Cactus.

In the case of print requests, features 1-5 must be satisfied in full before print authorisation is given.

Reporting

The system will produce reports on a predetermined frequency. These will include:

1.: Transaction Report
2.: Intervention Report
3.: Invoices and Statements issued to participating institutions
4.: Publisher's Report.These will show usage data.
5.: Publisher's Remittance Report
6.: Payment based on usage.

Conclusion

In developing Cactus, SCOPE aims to balance security with the requirement that SCOPE resources be easily accessible and affordable.

Go to the SCOPE home page

Page created by Leah Halliday, SCOPE Copyright Officer. Email: l.l.halliday@stir.ac.uk
Last updated on 21st October 1996.