Automatic Erase after print?

[therock005]

Allow me to describe my problem. Since i dont own a plotter, i convert my dwg's into pdf's and i plot them into certain printing stores with plotting equipment.

 

What's seems to be bothering me though, is that they seem to keep the files stored on their computer, and such files are personal and private. Is there a way for the files to wipe them selves out after being printed?

 

The guy i go to seems to be using a program called Plotbase that acts a s a medium between the file and the plotter.

 

Meaning that he opens adobe, and then via the print menu he sends the file to this plotbase software, and then opens it and plots it from there, the number of times i instruct him to.

[lpseifert]

Send him .plt files instead; you'll need to get the driver of the plotter he uses (i think).

or...

Ask the printer to delete the files after printing and don't give them to anyone you don't trust

[ReMark]

All of the reprographic companies I have dealt with are quite honest and I have every confidence in them. I do not believe they are "sharing" my files. Do you suspect a problem?

[therock005]

Send him .plt files instead; you'll need to get the driver of the plotter he uses (i think).

or...

Ask the printer to delete the files after printing and don't give them to anyone you don't trust

 

What information does a .plt contain? Only the one needed for the printer to print? I mean there's no graphical representation, or a way to view the file in some software viewer?

 

Then again isnt it possible to send the .plt to an adobe virtual printer and convert it back to pdf?

 

All of the reprographic companies I have dealt with are quite honest and I have every confidence in them. I do not believe they are "sharing" my files. Do you suspect a problem?

 

It's not that i dont trust him, but then again it's not like i've known him for years, so you never know if any harm can come from this. I dont suspect him for anything but we live in a tricky world where people take advantage of certain things and you never know what may come of it.

 

I only need to take preacautions just to be on the safe side, is all.

[ReMark]

Unless you are designing nuclear power plants or weapon systems I don't think there is much cause for alarm. If a reprographics company gets a rep as being careless with drawings it soon looses enough business that it closes up.

[lpseifert]

It seems to me that if he plots a pdf, he has access to the info no matter if the pdf file gets deleted or not. I guess you could buy your own plotter; you may want to lock it in a room with no windows.

[therock005]

Cmon guys dont be like that. You may find this harmless yourselves but me among others dont.

 

Someone could easily notice a drawing from inside PlotBase and say hey can i see what this is all about? And then he can be, can you print me a copy?

 

Now the clerk may be discreet and say, no this is another client's work, but then again, maybe he sees a way to profit and comply with his demands.

 

Now since my drawings consist of land surveying, they contain information of certain land parcels, who the owner is, and stuff like that, that there are a million ways to take advantage of, if fallen into the wrong hands.

 

You may not see it but i do.

 

Bottom line, i just dont feel comfortably with someone sitting on my personal data, i hope you can respect that.

[lpseifert]

 

Now since my drawings consist of land surveying, they contain information of certain land parcels, who the owner is, and stuff like that, that there are a million ways to take advantage of, if fallen into the wrong hands.

 

I don't know where you're from, but here in the USA, this info is a matter of public record.

[therock005]

I'm from eastern Europe.

[ReMark]

Sounds just a tad paranoid to me.

 

I've worked at a handful of companies who, on a regular basis, sent drawings out for reproduction with narry a concern that they would fall into the wrong hands (their competitors for instance). Only one company maintained a full time/staffed print shop and that was because of the vast quantities of prints being generated (100+ sets at upwards of 125 sheets each). Even the chemical company I work for now will, on occassion, send out highly proprietary drawings for mass production. If a competitor got a hold of any of the drawings they could put whole production lines permanently out of business. It's never happened. But then again we're not in Eastern Europe.

 

I suggest you consider moving all printing/plotting inhouse where you have 100% control. The other option is to try and get the reprographics company to sign off on a "non-disclosure" contract where monetary penalities would come into effect should copies of your drawings fall into the hands of others. I think you'll meet with some reluctance if not downright indignation on the part of some of the firms. Be prepared to suffer some verbal abuse.

[Glen Smith]

The only way to get complete control is to pony up for your own plotter. Even deleting the file will simply put it in the recycle bin.

 

At the risk of sounding like I'm poking fun, many plotters keep the last few jobs in a queue and can reprint them even if disconnected from the print server.

 

As lpseifert said, the information that you have posted about is public record here in the US. I used to work for a Structural Engineer, one of my jobs was to get all available information from the web when we got a new job. Given the address I could have the owners name, tax assesment data, last several purchase price and dates, plot size and shape and often a measured footprint of the house and photo from the street printed out before we went for the inspection.

 

I'm not a fan of the fact that it is out there waiting for anyone with an internet connection to look at, but there it is.

 

Glen

[therock005]

So far i cant make the sacrifice of owning a plotter, otherwise i wouldnt bother you guys with this.

 

Another thing that's on my mind, is that want to start including a digital signature on my drawings, so that i dont have to stamp it on the paper afterwards..

 

But a digital signature though can easily be reproduced and legal documents can be forged in your name (worst case scenario but still a possibility).

 

The only way to get complete control is to pony up for your own plotter. Even deleting the file will simply put it in the recycle bin.

 

At the risk of sounding like I'm poking fun, many plotters keep the last few jobs in a queue and can reprint them even if disconnected from the print server.

 

As lpseifert said, the information that you have posted about is public record here in the US. I used to work for a Structural Engineer, one of my jobs was to get all available information from the web when we got a new job. Given the address I could have the owners name, tax assesment data, last several purchase price and dates, plot size and shape and often a measured footprint of the house and photo from the street printed out before we went for the inspection.

 

I'm not a fan of the fact that it is out there waiting for anyone with an internet connection to look at, but there it is.

 

Glen

 

Wait so let me understand that. Given you have a name or an address you draw all kinds of information for a person legally and publicly? Isnt that any form of an invasion of privacy?

[Glen Smith]

That depends on your definitions. Is it an invasion of privacy - yes. Is it legal - yes. These records are public records - just like birth, death and marriage records and are therefore available to the public. It used to be that you had to go to the public courthouse that kept the record in question, flip through a scillion pages of dusty old books to hopefully find the one record you were interested in. Now lots of court houses have put it online.

 

Is Google Earth any less invasive? Street view lets you darn near look in the windows. I hear that Great Britain has CCTV cameras on most every street corner - is that not an invasion of privacy? What price safety and security?

 

I'll stop - or this thread will need to move to the chat forum.

 

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin.

[ReMark]

Where do you get your digital pictures printed? Do you store any of them online?

 

Did you ever use a film camera? Where did you get your film processed?

 

Are you confident that your medical records are secure? How can you be sure?

 

Are you sure no one has hacked your computer?

 

How paranoid do you want to be?

[nukecad]

We are a design house not a print service; but we often get a job to print out 200 / 300 drawings for clients who do not have access to large format plotters or who have a large workload to print out.

 

When we have printed the drawings we do not keep a copy on our server; why fill up our storage with someone elses drawings.

 

I would susspect that most print houses will work in a similar way, they may keep an electronic copy for a month or so in case you want a reprint, but they wont have unlimited storage and will clear the files off after a set time has passed.