[ale] (OT) Paperless environment

[Preston Boyington]

There is interest in my workplace in pursuing a "paperless" (or rather
"less paper") work flow.

The idea is as such:
New drawings and other material would be published to PDF.  These PDF
files would be "locked" in that they would not be able to be printed
(although they could be viewed) without some type of "digital signature"
(perhaps some type of watermark or stamp).  Only a select few would be
able to "sign" the documents for release, and after their being "signed"
they could then be printed by anyone.

I imagine the flow to look something like this:

new document -> unsigned, viewable (non-printable) pdf -> pdf gets
checked and is APPENDED with a "signature" -> appended pdf is now
available to be printed.

I am currently researching methods, pitfalls, and maybe some success
stories.  As always I would like some feedback, ideas, etc. about this.

Linux centric is preferred, but M$ solutions are welcome also.