Security issue

[Frank Zwolinski]

Hello folks,

I have been sharing my files with family as a "Web Project" and within that I protect certain information such as social security numbers but I have recently run across a problem and do not have a solution. I now want to send "Web Projects" to other repositories for preservation.

I attach an image of each source under the multimedia tab of that source in the family file. However, I have recently entered as sources some full family probate files, which I obtained from the Surrogate Court and was surprised to see that a number of people are listed with their full social security numbers. I do not want to "black out" the actual document but I think it is dangerous for this information to be out there in the general public as these folks are living.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Frank

[Jeff89]

Re: Security issue

Hello folks,

I have been sharing my files with family as a "Web Project" and within that I protect certain information such as social security numbers but I have recently run across a problem and do not have a solution. I now want to send "Web Projects" to other repositories for preservation.

I attach an image of each source under the multimedia tab of that source in the family file. However, I have recently entered as sources some full family probate files, which I obtained from the Surrogate Court and was surprised to see that a number of people are listed with their full social security numbers. I do not want to "black out" the actual document but I think it is dangerous for this information to be out there in the general public as these folks are living.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Frank

Is it safe to assume that you've scanned the original document? Perhaps you could get some archival tape and cover the SS # and then re-scan it? Archival tape shouldn't damage the original document. Just a thought ...

Jeff

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Security issue

Jeff,

Thank you, good idea, however I received the document as a scan and do not have the original. I was hoping that there might be a way to block it out of the scan, alas. . . . . .

Frank

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Security issue

Jeff,

Thank you, good idea, however I received the document as a scan and do not have the original. I was hoping that there might be a way to block it out of the scan, alas. . . . . .

Frank

Of course you can cover it over! Open the scan in Photoshop, draw a black rectangle on the parts you don't want to show, save a copy under a different filename (so you still have the uncensored original scan!) and post it.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Security issue

Of course you can cover it over! Open the scan in Photoshop, draw a black rectangle on the parts you don't want to show, save a copy under a different filename (so you still have the uncensored original scan!) and post it.

OK, now we are talking!!
Is it possible for anyone else to undo that blocking?

Thanks,
Frank

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Security issue

Is it possible for anyone else to undo that blocking?

Not if you do it right

[Bob White]

Re: Security issue

You could also "blur" them out. That's what I do to hide information. It just looks less forbidding that blacking out.. BTW... There are lots of programs much cheaper than Photoshop that can black out or blur for you.

[lmarker]

Re: Security issue

You could also "blur" them out. That's what I do to hide information. It just looks less forbidding that blacking out.. BTW... There are lots of programs much cheaper than Photoshop that can black out or blur for you.

Good to know that there is more than one way to do it. Much as I would like to have Photoshop, I don't.

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Security issue

Thank you all for these suggestions. I wonder if there is any program which will help me block out the social security numbers, while still in PDF, OR MUST it be put in another program first?

Thanks,
Frank

[thboyd]

Re: Security issue

You can also do this in recent versions of Preview. Use the annotate tool.

[donworth]

Re: Security issue

This program is a near to PhotoShop as you can get for a free program and is very well liked - it gets rave reviews. Runs on either Mac OSX or Windows.

http://www.gimp.org

I use PhotoShop myself but have a copy of GIMP installed on my Mac. I just checked, and it has Gaussian Blur just like PhotoShop.

Don

[Tom Robinson]

Re: Security issue

Thank you all for these suggestions. I wonder if there is any program which will help me block out the social security numbers, while still in PDF, OR MUST it be put in another program first?

Be aware that in (almost?) all cases, editing a PDF directly to block something out will leave the original text underneath, and open to retrieval. Sometimes a simple copy & paste will reveal the original text.

[Robert Godfrey]

Re: Security issue

Adobe Acrobat has a Redaction function that converts selections to black boxes. Acrobat is expensive, however.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Security issue

Adobe Acrobat has a Redaction function that converts selections to black boxes. Acrobat is expensive, however.

PDFPen-$59.99 & PDFPenPro-$99.99 do redactions also. Check them out on the Mac App Store & click on their website for more info.

Disclaimer: I have no connection to the SmileOnMyMac company except as a satisfied customer.