There is a bug in Acrobat Pro DC that allows people to print encrypted secure pdf files to pdf, and the new pdf that is produced has no security or encryption.

After creating a pdf from a Word doc, I secure it with certificate or password security using a policy. Under Permissions for the policy, I chose Printing Allowed: High Resolution and Changes Allowed: None. I also uncheck enable text access for screen readers. I save the pdf and close it. I then reopen the pdf and check Document Properties, which state that printing in Allowed and everything else is Not Allowed. I then Print to PDF, and it prints a perfect PDF file with no encryption or security. I can then go to edit PDF and am able to edit all text. Occasionally it does not print and gives me a message stating that the secure pdf cannot be re-distilled, but when I try again it will print a new pdf with no security or encryption. I have tested this on about 25 PDF files and continue to get the same result. I created most of the secure pdf files myself with Acrobat DC Pro minutes before I testing the Print to PDF function. I also tested files that were created with Acrobat XI Pro 5 years ago and got the same result. I then found two secure pdf files on the internet, tested those, and got the same result. I have been using Acrobat Pro software for about 11 years (Acrobat Pro 9, X, and XI). In this past, it was not possible to remove encryption by printing to PDF, so I am assuming that this is a bug.

I have tested this on two operating systems - Windows 7 and 9.