The Reading Platform was launched in December 2023 and one of the reasons to move away from the distribution of pdf files was to better control the activity of the users of the Safety Observer service.
As a reminder, measures are in place to control that users do not share accounts. In addition, measures were implemented to discourage users to copy content. Both practices are strictly prohibited under our General Terms and Conditions, which all users must accept prior to accessing the platform.
October 2024: First set of measures
To maintain user convenience, we initially chose not to block the copy/paste function entirely. This allows users to copy short strings of text (e.g. name of an active ingredient or title of a guideline) to search the web or company systems.
To prevent abuse, a restriction was implemented in October 2024 on the volume of text that can be copied, triggering a warning message when the defined threshold is reached. In addition, the platform flags users with excessive copy/paste volume.
The “ToC Export” functionality has been designed to better support the Impact Assessment by clients, while reducing the need to copy/paste. The resulting Excel file can be shared within and across companies (e.g. between a Service Provider and its Pharma client), and all registered users of the Platform can click the links within the file to access the corresponding articles.
June 2026: New restrictions
Since October 2024, many users were flagged due to their excessive copy/paste activity, which shows that these measures were not sufficient.
Consequently, stricter controls are being implemented: Each user is now allocated a monthly limit for copy/paste activity. Once this quota is reached, the copy function will be automatically disabled for that account until the following calendar month.
As described in the updated Release Notes, this pre-defined quota represents approximately 10% of the full contents of a monthly report and it is intended to support standard lookups while preventing content extraction. To help users track their usage, system notifications will appear when they reach 50% and 80% of the monthly limit. Upon reaching 100%, an on-screen notification will be displayed, and an automated email alert will be sent.
