Is it possible to create an invisible watermark?

[Unrealistic]

as title asks...I've googled it, but I can't seem to find anything.

[GreenMartian]

Honest question, what exactly is the point of a watermark if it's invisible?

[ethereal]

In Word you can make a watermark that is white...matching the color of the page making it invisible. Choose custom watermark and change the color.

[The Teej]

  Unrealistic said:

as title asks...I've googled it, but I can't seem to find anything.

You mean, like a watermark that's only invisible when you highlight over it?

[Unrealistic]

  GreenMartian said:

Honest question, what exactly is the point of a watermark if it's invisible?

  The Teej said:

You mean, like a watermark that's only invisible when you highlight over it?

A family member of mine is continually losing credit for work she is working on. Other people around her are saying they created this. She has to share the work she is doing, and I would like to give her the ability to have an invisible watermark, that isn't able to be edited.

The next time someone claims her work is their own, she can show her boss that they are stealing her work. I want it so no one besides her (until the time is needed) can know about it.

[Pong]

  GreenMartian said:

Honest question, what exactly is the point of a watermark if it's invisible?

Watermarks can spoil an image/audio clip/video so if you only want to use it to prove ownership then why not make it invisible?

You can also use invisible watermarks to prove if something has been doctored. You can also create an invisible watermark which is destroyed when the file is altered making it possible to detect alterations.

I'm not too knowledgeable about the actual workings of this but I know it's possible to hide a watermark in an image and use an algorithm to recover it if you want to prove ownership. I suggest you take another look at google.

[Unrealistic]

If you look closer, all of those are for images. I need one specifically for microsoft word. My idea was to try to slip it in between the headers, where text is usually not there.

[PrEzi]

  Unrealistic said:

If you look closer, all of those are for images. I need one specifically for microsoft word. My idea was to try to slip it in between the headers, where text is usually not there.

I would add an invisible text box (without a fill and without a boarder), placed it under the text (very bottom), added white text, set the properties of the text box to NOT shift with the text, and placed it on (example) very bottom right.

Put there my initials etc.

[Omar Hussain]

if its invisible, how will that help to prove the work is hers?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Or you could actually digitally watermark the file with some form of header manipulation or whatever. Metadata...

[wrack]

Search for a thing called "Alternate Streams" for files. You need a little bit of coding experience to do this or get someone who has done this but it's not that hard to do. You can put whatever text you want there which is totally invisible unless you use a program to extract the text. But then again there is nothing stoping them from just copying and pasting the contents to a new document and leaving the old document as it is.

[M_Lyons10]

The only issue I can see with the text field option (And I'm just throwing it out there), is that should your family member's coworkers have a need to use something that your family member has "touched" as a template or something, any derivative, related or not, would look like your family member's work...

I would recommend one of the following.

1) Make use of Microsoft Word's built in "Track Changes" or "Protect Document" tools. They're quite deep once you get used to using them a bit.

2) If you need something more hidden, you may want to look up something called "Steganography". I don't know that you can apply it to a Word document, but this allows you to place hidden watermarks in things. It may be an option for you.

[Unrealistic]

  njlouch said:

Or you could actually digitally watermark the file with some form of header manipulation or whatever. Metadata...

I know that basic metadata in MS word can be easily changed (although I honestly think they are too stupid to do this). Is there any kind of program you know about?

And I will look into M_Lyons10 two ideas...thanks guys. :)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP010446741033.aspx

This may be another option...Digital Signature. What do you guys think?

[zhangm Supervisor]

This is already built-in (the document in the screenshot already has a watermark on it).

[Unrealistic]

Right, but the problem with using that is it's easy to remove. :/

[GreenMartian]

  Unrealistic said:

Right, but the problem with using that is it's easy to remove. :/

As would metadata, or just about anything I could think out. Wouldn't a simple "Select All - Copy - Paste" defeat most of these solutions?

As far as I know, there's no way to stop copy-pasting in Word. Could she distribute the documents as PDF? PDF has security settings to prevent people from copying (or even printing). Although if they're really determined, they could still re-type everything :p

The good thing with watermarks in images is that it takes some effort to remove them, and with steganography, it's almost impossible to remove short of destroying the image.

[Pupik]

The only thing I can think of, is to add an image that would only be visible under certain amount of added/removed brightness.

But that would only work on photographs, and not text files.

[Unrealistic]

GreenMartian: I will ask her. PDF may be the right way to go. They are too lazy to do the work, that's why they claim it as their own, so I doubt they would be willing to go through the hassle of retyping it. :p

[GreenMartian]

Well this thread got me curious. I remembered the PDF security options were available from Adobe's own Acrobat Pro (which isn't free). So I tried out some free products to see if any of them has this function.

1. PDFCreator
   
2. doPDF
   
3. CutePDF
   
4. PrimoPDF
   

Out of all four, PDFCreator & PrimoPDF allow you to do it without having to pay for a pro version. Both CutePDF and doPDF offer pro versions that do this, but they're $50 each.

So yeah, she could stop people from editing, copying, or printing her documents - for free - if she is willing to print them as PDF. There are ways to get past the encryption (e.g. bruteforcing the password) but I don't think your audience would know how anyway, as long as your aunt picked a password that is not easily guessed.

Edit: WTF, where did I get "aunt" from. I just re-read the thread and you only said family member. My apologies :p

[The Teej]

  GreenMartian said:

Well this thread got me curious. I remembered the PDF security options were available from Adobe's own Acrobat Pro (which isn't free). So I tried out some free products to see if any of them has this function.

1. PDFCreator
   
2. doPDF
   
3. CutePDF
   
4. PrimoPDF
   

Out of all four, PDFCreator & PrimoPDF allow you to do it without having to pay for a pro version. Both CutePDF and doPDF offer pro versions that do this, but they're $50 each.

So yeah, she could stop people from editing, copying, or printing her documents - for free - if she is willing to print them as PDF. There are ways to get past the encryption (e.g. bruteforcing the password) but I don't think your audience would know how anyway, as long as your aunt picked a password that is not easily guessed.

Edit: WTF, where did I get "aunt" from. I just re-read the thread and you only said family member. My apologies :p

Of course, you could just have a super secure password like $*/@10HPNP%$^╔╔?1Inzq+-

There's no WAY they're brute-forcing that door down anytime soon;))

(Of course, you'd write it down on a piece of paper and keep it safe, you don't want to forget your own password LOL)

[panicswitched]

pdf is the way to go as you can digitally sign it and prohibit editing/saving as....

though you should be able to do the same with word, even so that the document couldnt even be copied or printed. As im not well versed in word youre on your own to find those functions.