Re: Turning off screen shot ability
Re: Turning off screen shot ability
- Subject: Re: Turning off screen shot ability
- From: "Brad O'Hearne" <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:21:19 -0700
I'll take a stab at this one last time -- I appreciate the opinions here and under normal circumstances I would agree with the sentiments of user liberty and user control of their machine. However, this is a very specialized, security-oriented use-case. This app *never* runs in the background, it can't be put to the background, you cannot switch to another app while it is running, you cannot access any other system or app facilities whatsoever while this app runs. The content delivered by this app is intended to be completely secured, not able to be captured by a background app, not able to be captured with screen shots either.
It is the user's choice whether they want to run the app or not, and at any time during the use of this app, the user may opt to exit the app. However, while the app runs, it is the only game in town. There are very legitimate use cases for this -- someone earlier replied mentioning kiosk mode. That's a pretty close analogy, but consider this to be kiosk mode plus confidential data which the user is not supposed to replicate or copy, either intentionally or accidentally. Put simply, the user is given full control over whether to run the app, or exit the app, but they do not get to call the shots or make the rules on how to use the content in the app. It is displayed while the app runs, and it is gone once the app is exited.
Again -- I appreciate the sentiments about disabling screen shots not being a desirable approach for whatever reasons. If this were a game, or word-processing app, or music composition app, or something else, that might be a good argument. But this is something far different from those -- security is imperative. Furthermore, one more wrinkle I have not mentioned, this is a requirement of the content-owners. Someone earlier mentioned DRM, iTunes, and the requirements of media publishers to secure such data. Different data, but same principle -- it is an absolute, non-negotiable requirement that data be secured in this way. I have zero ability to change that requirement. The requirement does not originate from me, nor is it mine to change -- it is only mine to solve. But even if I was given authority to make the call, I'd agree with the pursuit of this end -- this particular use case is a legitimate use-case for disabling screen-shots.
I'll refrain from any more attempts at explaining the scenario...I've said what I could, but if that still isn't enough, it shouldn't be too hard to imagine scenarios where this would be desirable.
Brad
On Mar 6, 2013, at 9:39 PM, Steve Mills <email@hidden> wrote:
> On Mar 6, 2013, at 19:56:04, Charles Srstka <email@hidden> wrote:
>
>> Turning off the user's ability to do a screen capture in general is probably the wrong approach — and even if you managed to sink your tendrils deep enough to do this, there'd probably be plenty of ways to work around it. Instead, I'd try to figure out what Apple's DVD player does; it allows you to take screenshots all day long, but the copyrighted content gets replaced by a solid color.
>
> And as a user, I would still expect my screenshot key to function if this mystery app is running in the background, so it had better not remove/trap the key just because it's running. And if you remove/trap it only when it's the foreground app, than what's preventing it from being screenshotted when it's in the background? Look for other ways around being secure - preventing screenshots whole-hog is not a good idea at all.
>
> --
> Steve Mills
> office: 952-818-3871
> home: 952-401-6255
> cell: 612-803-6157
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Cocoa-dev mailing list (email@hidden)
>
> Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list.
> Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com
>
> Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
>
> This email sent to email@hidden
_______________________________________________
Cocoa-dev mailing list (email@hidden)
Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list.
Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com
Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription:
This email sent to email@hidden