How to sign and enable rights

Question

I know there have been some discussions about Reader Extensions and the like, so please forgive me.  I'm new to all of this and I just don't understand.
Is there a very simple, plain English guide on signing and enabling rights?  My agency has finally informed me that we don't have Reader Extensions, and likely won't be getting it at any point in the near future.  In order to enable user rights for people that only have Reader, is it pointless now for me to design forms in LiveCycle?  Filling in forms seems to work out OK with Reader, but there are some things I can't restrict (markup, comments, etc).  And there are some things I can't enable (adding attachments, for example).
As really the only guy working here that seems interested in Adobe products (IT didn't even know Reader has the ability to add attachments to a document), what are my options for restricting/enabling usage rights for forms created in LiveCycle, but without the aid of Reader Extensions?  Can some/all of these rights be controlled via Acrobat X Pro? In other words, can I create a form in LiveCycle, and manage the rights enabling/restricting in Acrobat X Pro?  I would imagine that would require a digital signature or certificate. I went over to Verisign and got lost.  If I can do such things with a digital certificate, where and how would I go about obtaining one?
Sorry, again, for such basics.  Most of the literature and discussions seem to aim at those more familiar with the products and services.

Answer 1

I'm sure that others on the forum would have a better answer for you but I'm going to take a stab at this.
Once you create the form in LiveCycle, open it in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Once open, select File/Save as and from the fly out menu select "Reader Extended PDF" and from that flyout menu, select "Enable Additional Features". Then it will ask you to save it again.
Once you do this, the form can be filled in with the regular Adobe Reader, the form can be saved, and the form can be used for Markup tools, such as sticky notes, redaction, digital stamps with the users' name and date, and digital signatures.
When the person selects to sign the document in the "Extended" section of Adobe Reader X, they will create a self signed signature certificate. Each signature generates it's own serial number. Unfortunately, Adobe doesn't restrict the creation of digital signatures so you can make one in your name, your dog's name, etc and yet all the signatures will validate and look absolutely legitimate.
And unfortunately, the same is true of digital stamps. All you have to do is right click the stamp and you can change the sign on id and forge another's stamp.
I hope this helped for what you are trying to do. Good luck.