Dear American Scientist Reader:

As you no doubt noticed, we implemented password protection and encryption for the September-October 2010 American Scientist digital edition. Effective the November-December 2010 edition, we have reversed that decision.

Why backtrack? The password protection and encryption were hacked within 10 days of the issue going out, and the edition was immediately available for free at numerous peer-to-peer download sites. Our attempt having failed to protect the magazine’s copyright and that of rights holders for whom we manage it, there was no sense in putting the great majority of honest readers through the hassle of dealing with plug-ins and passwords.

We continue to explore options for securing digital editions; in the end, it’s possible that we simply won’t be able to issue them at all. But for now, we hope you enjoy the digital edition, and, once again, thank you for your patience.

The Editors