Module protection is not working

[ErikJon]

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Hello, again.

I bought a certain module from you on December 24, 2015 (order No.7414) to use with my portable installation. However, whenever I share my TW folder with another person (twice already), while all of the locked modules ask the new user for a password (which I do not provide to my friends, of course), the module in question does not require one, and remains fully functional in the new copy on the friends' computer. Had I known that beforehand, I never would have shared the folder. I discovered it too late, and now I have to tell them the bad news.

I suppose that you may have forgotten to lock that module correctly, so you may wish to do so. This is my first suggestion.

Next, in the meantime, have you considered including the option of allowing any user to add password-protection to his modules, to prevent accidental, unauthorized distribution on personal modules? Is this option is already available?

For example, I have my sermon-notes module inside my TW folder, and when I share my folder with others, I sometimes forget to remove that module (and other similar personal modules).

I also have my own personal commentary module with my own observations, which I never intended to share with others. This is also susceptible to accidental distribution.

Also, I sometimes acquire copyrighted articles or books for my own personal use, in digital format, such as from another program on my computer or a PDF. For the sake of convenience, I make a module out of them. (I know that other users do that also, as some online have told me). I would never want to distribute those modules illegally or accidentally. If we had some quick way of applying password protection to any such private user-module (perhaps including modules created by others), and if we could do so within the program (instead of having to locate the module physically in the TW folder, among hundreds of others) it would be a convenient way of protecting them from unauthorized distribution.

Sometimes we simply find good material online, under copyright, and even if we make a nice module out of it for quick reference within TheWord, we would not be allowed to share it with others. We would not want to transfer it accidentally, either. Instead of having to search through our folder, to pick out 25 different personal or copyright modules without protection, every time that we wanted to share our library with friends, it would be so much simpler if TheWord simply allowed us to protect those modules once and for all with a password.
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[Doctordavet]

TheWord reads sub-folders in the TWBooks folder. So you can create a folder called "nondistributable" (or whatever you want) to put these kinds of modules into. When you give your other modules away, all you'll need to remember is to delete the "nondistributable" folder from your giveaway.

While not exactly what you're looking for, it is an easy way to keep all of your personal modules together. It works great for me.

[ErikJon]

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Thanks for the tip, Doctor Dave. That's a good work-around for the moment.
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[csterg]

Erik,
you raise interesting issues that have been designed after months of contemplation and research.

Concerning the issue of distributing copyrighted modules: this is not the case at all. Instead, when a copyrighted module is given to another, it requires the registration email inorder to be re-activated and, moreover, it displays a very explanatory dialog to let the other user know that he is about to get copyrighted material that he did not pay for (even if he knows the registration email). You may try this yourself to see what happens. Bottom-case, I believe this is an approach that respects the copyright and lets honest users know what the case is. There is no way that someone will use copyrighted material without purposefully using data that he clearly understand that are not his.

Concerning the second issue:
Another alternative is to put all your non-distributable modules to a folder OUTSIDE the main book folder (e.g. under c:\my-personal-modules) and then add this external path to the config.ini of theWord so that it reads modules from this folder. If you do that you will never even need to delete modules when distributing your main books folder

Costas

[ErikJon]

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Hello, Costas.

I did not explain myself well.

I understand that your modules are DESIGNED to make unauthorized use impossible, but what I was saying is that the design is not working on one particular module. (I do not want to mention the name here, in case dishonest users will try to distribute it illegally. I did tell JG which module it was in a private message).

You said, "You may try this yourself to see what happens..." and, in fact, I did try. This is exactly the contradiciton that I am trying to report to you in this post. I tried it on my friend's computer, and this is how I discovered that one copyrighted module was opening without the need of any password.

You said, "There is no way that someone will use copyrighted material without purposefully using data that he clearly understand that are not his..." so my next question is, "Is there something wrong with my portable folder, so that unauthorized information is accidentally transferred, each time that I share the folder?" Because my two friends have opened the module without any password requirement. Something must be wrong.

In the meantime, I am afraid to share TW any more, because I do not want to infringe the copyright again by mistake.
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[csterg]

Thanks Erik. I will discuss in private with Jon and get back.
Your notes are very helpful!
Costas