Faulty PDF Redacting Whacks FTC
Unfortunate FTC lawyers failed to use proper redacting techniques for a PDF filing in a court case (1:07-cv-01021-PLF - District of Columbia District Court) filed against Whole Foods proposed purchase of Wild Oats. As is the case with faulty PDF redactions, "the words looked redacted but were actually just electronically shaded black. The words could be searched, copied, pasted and read." According to the
Washington Post story, FTC lawyers filed a second version, apparently using proper redaction technique. "The second version of the document was filed using scanned pages of the redacted documents. There is no way to remove the blacked-out portions from the final copy." Acrobat Standard and Professional 8.0 and other PDF compatible products include redaction tools that really work.