Protecting Digital Downloads from Theft

"I offer digital products on my website. Once a visitor places an order and has her credit card information approved, she receives the URL to download my report(s). What is there to prevent visitors from establishing a link directly to that page or accessing that page at a later date? How should I protect my intellectual properties?" -- Margaret Chan, Biblical Blueprint

Here's my philosophy. I try to make it difficult for thieves and other low-lifes to get to my digital product download pages. But I've decided that most thieves and their buddies aren't really potential e-book buyers anyway. (The opposite is true of peer-to-peer MP3 music downloader thieves, who have put a significant dent in CD sales.) If you take expensive precautions to prevent e-book theft, you still won't get these scumbags to buy your ebooks. You gain no sales, only paranoia. What have you really lost except a few electrons?

Having said that, it's wise to do what you can. Your web hosting service can help you password protect the download directory to cut down on unauthorized access. Most software designed to sell and deliver digital products offers a feature that gives buyers a temporary URL that expires in a few days. A couple of inexpensive products that do this include ClickBank Download Protector (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/download_protector.htm) and PayPal-IPN Download Protector (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/download_protector_ipn.htm) from WebmasterInABox.