I'm with you on this one, Hal.
The issue all along was not to prevent someone from "seeing" the contents of the file, but once having seen it, a way to prevent them from copying the contents.
We all wait with baited breath for the original poster's return.
OK, somewhat related, this reminds me of the famous 17th century mathematician Pierre de Fermat. He went through a book of unsolved (at that time) mathematical problems and attempted to solve many of them. On one in particular he noted in the margin that he was able to solve it but the limited space in the margin of the text prevented him from showing the solution.
For 300 years mathematicians tried, unsuccessfully, to solve the problem (Fermat's Last Theorem). In the late 20th century a valid proof was presented and it required mathematics unknown to Fermat. Consequently many doubted his original claim of having solved the problem.
I hope we don't have to wait that long for a solution to this one, and I hope it is valid.
