How to Deny Someone From Forwarding An Email You've Sent Him

Hi Guys,

As the subject denotes, I would like to know whether it's possible to

deny someone from forwarding an email that I've sent him myself

earlier. In the sense that I have a file in PDF format which I need to

attach in this email but since the PDF file contains sensitive data, I

need ONLY the intended particular recipients to receive my email; in a

way that these same intended recipients won't be able to forward my

email to third parties. Similarly it's important that the recipients

won't be able to copy this file on their Hard Disk [C:] as then it will

be very easy for them to forward the file as a new attachment in a new

email.

Just to make it clear, the contents in the email itself are not a

problem if they are copied and forwarded; my concern is only the PDF

file attached, that is, how I can prevent the file I attached from

being distributed to non-intended recipients or to third parties.

The PDF file attached I need to send is already in READ ONLY format and

the recipients can't copy the contents by a simple COPY PASTE but my

concern is still the one mentioed above as presently they still can

forward my email to third parties.

In this regard, can someone help me out please? Maybe you know of a

setting I can do in my email account settings or a software which can

help me solve out my problem? Or maybe from Adobe Acrobat Professional

itself... confused

Just to let you know, preferably I'd like to use my GMAIL account to

send this email but please feel free if there's a solution related to

other email programs other than Web-based e-mail services like Gmail.

I thank you in advance for any comments and assistance.

Best Regards,

Corolla :wave

 

Just a suggestion,-- can the file be incripted, and only opened with a password ? - EVEN TIME LIMITED PASSWORD ?, OR, that will change within a certain time, and you need to be contacted for replacement?
I might be way off base, as I have never had need to use incription (probably spelt it wrong, too) , and again, someone with more knowledge in that field might come on to help.

 

Hi Baklogic,

Thanks for your reply first of all.

Actually I do want a particular intended recipient to keep the email on his PC only- no prob. Therefore a document with a time-limited password is not my solution. Also if the document is password-protected, my intended recipient can forward it to third parties by sending also the password which I initially gave the intended recipient which thus in this case also doesn't solve my prob. What I don't want is for the email not to be forwarded to 3rd parties I don't even know!

Thanks a lot for your time.

Regards,

Corolla

 

No you can't

All they have to do is to copy and paste to get around any restrictions you may put on it.

 

Anything on your computer can be copied either by a C&P or a screen capture, or simply take a pic of the screen, there's no way out. You can have the person sign a confidentiality agreement but there's obviously a trust issue at work here if you're that worried.

 

Sounds to me like a case for a big disclaimer like the ones we use at work. Something like this would probalby cover your back.

'The contents of this email and any attachments are private and confidential and only intended for the recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please delete this email immediately'.

The only way I know that you could stop your user from forwarding the PDF would be to host the file on your own website and allow him read only access (no save access). That still doesn't stop the screen from being copied and printed or saved as an image.

The question you have to ask yourself is 'can I cover my back if we were involved in a court case', in that situation the disclaimer should do (doesn't stop politically sensitive data ruining your relationship with people who should never have seen it though).

 

Thanks a lot guys for your replies.

I really appreciate all of your comments.

You gave me some ideas - however I know that what I need is impossible with the present tech.thanks


corolla