Most PDF Redaction Is Broken. Here's What "Real" Redaction Actually Requires.

All tests run on an 8-year-old MacBook Air. Drawing a black rectangle over text is not redaction. The text is still there. Select all, copy, paste into Notepad — it appears. This has leaked classified documents from actual government agencies. Multiple times. Real redaction destroys the underlying data. Here's how I implemented it. What fake redaction looks like PDF structure (fake redaction): Page content stream: "Salary: $120,000" ← still here Annotation layer: [black rectangle] ← just coverin