In first place, of course, headline says it plain and simple. Don’t judge an ebook by its cover…literally. There is some really wonderful ‘cover creation’ software that can be got for very little. It’s good news for ebook publisher but it also means that most useless and least valuable piece of rubbish can look like a million dollars in promo’.

Generally speaking, when it comes to ebooks on Internet, most people, especially those who would be exposed to this article, are going to be presented more often than not with non-fiction, that is, guides, tutorials and instructionals about marketing and home business or ‘how to…’ type titles.

There are many such titles available and some are quite worthwhile and of value, especially to people just beginning on their ‘online business adventure’. I am referring to these sorts of ebooks, rather than novels, which are a completely different animal and are purchased for entirely different reasons.

The ebook ‘litmus test’ is two-fold as far as I am concerned. If an author or publisher is truly confident that an ebook is worth what they ask, they will feature two important things:

The first is a ‘glimpse’ of some sort, whether it is a sample of ebook for download, or a few screenshots of pages, so that prospective buyers can see, prior to buying, type of information being imparted, look and style of ebook and features with which it is sold. This can be a bit of a dilemma for some, as there is often question of how much to ‘give away’, but anyone serious about their ebook and what it offers, will find a medium. Even when it’s not much, it’s something - that is, they’re happy for you to see something BEFORE you buy.

The second is a ‘money back’ guarantee. The Internet has given us instant access to information in many forms, including ebook. This instant access has made it necessary for people to pay ‘up front’ for information that bears a charge. The mechanisms for this access, likes of [b]Clickbank[/b], have such transactions down to a fine art. They also have a built-in safety net in form of their ’90 day money back guarantee’.

An "unbreakable" protection system simply does not, and will never exist. If someone really wants your information, they can get it, even if it takes years of work.

SO WHAT'S THE POINT? WHY USE ANY PROTECTION AT ALL?

There is no 100% security guarantee in anything, but that's no reason to totally ignore protecting your intellectual property -- A thief can easily kick in your front door and rob your house, but you still lock door right? Locking door is not 100% effective security, but we still do it. Why? Because locking door deters most potential theft and those who are more determined will have to work a bit to get in.

WHO SHOULD USE PROTECTION?

The big question here is, HOW VALUABLE IS YOUR INFORMATION TO YOU? Sensitive, proprietary or private information demands some sort of protection, otherwise transmitting over net is not an option.

If your information is not free, then it's obviously of some importance. So, how much damage would it do to you if it were made freely available? What type of impact would it have on your sales and could you (or would you) absorb that without thinking twice?

Is a $14 Ebook worth paying for another service to protect it? Probably not, but it depends on situation and target market. What about a $2,000 report? Does price change perspective?

Business protect their property. If you believe your information or software to be of a unique or proprietary nature, you should protect that information using some means, no matter how small.

Companies like Microsoft lose hundreds of millions of dollars due to software theft and fraud, yet they continue to implement protection measures in their software. I would guess that without any protection whatsoever losses would be in billions.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT?

Like I said, there is no 100% way to prevent every possible incident, but you can make it very difficult and less likely to happen. At best what you should hope is to provide just enough security to close obvious security flaws and discourage would-be thieves. But not so much security that it discourages honest users and customers.

PROTECTION OPTIONS

Here are some common protection schemes:

No Protection: Just distribute your information and hope for best.

- Pros: No special process to access file which means less support issues

- Cons: File can be passed around, copied, distributed and/or sold without authorization from owner. Can't prevent access after chargeback or refund. ---

General Password Protection: Simply requiring a predetermined password to install or register file.

- Pros: Simple for customer or end user.

- Cons: File and password can be passed around, copied, distributed and/or sold without authorization from owner. Can't prevent access after chargeback or refund. ---

PC Unique Password Protection: Generates a unique password based on User's machine.

- Pros: Can't pass around file since it is basically locked to one machine.

- Cons: Requires an extra step for registration; Customer cannot move file to another PC; If their PC crashes they will need another unique password; Can't prevent access after chargeback or refund. ---