Stopping people saving images 1

[iazms]

A friend of mine has a simple HTML website and he would like to be able to stop people saving his images.

I have suggested disabling the right click but there are still ways around that...what other options are there that I could suggest to him. Is there really any one way that will stop people saving the images? Perhaps in other programming language or using a particular tool/software/developer.

M.S

 

[ca8msm]

I think we are pretty much at a stumbling block here. You can "protect" your images by perhaps:

1) Using layers or pixels (Mr3Putt and pgtek)
2) Using a copywright watermark (SlowFlight and dwarfthrower)
3) Try to use whatever laws are available (EdwardMartinIII
)

The only problem is that no matter what we do there is no way to completely protect an image apart from not putting in on the web to start with. As both ne4x4 and TheConeHead have stated this is the only way to stop someone from stealing a picture.

In short the printscreen command will override any attempts to conceal a picture apart from watermarking it.

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[pgtek]

hi
you want to protect yout image then click on link below

http://javascript.internet.com/page-details/protect-images.html

cheers

pgtek

 

[TheConeHead]

still the point (as has been made over and over) you can still get that image - easily....

"The only problem is that no matter what we do there is no way to completely protect an image apart from not putting in on the web to start with. As both ne4x4 and TheConeHead have stated this is the only way to stop someone from stealing a picture.

In short the printscreen command will override any attempts to conceal a picture apart from watermarking it."

well said....

 

[pgtek]

hi
there is a way to protect image even with print screen

NO IMAGE ON WEB PAGE

cheers

pgtek

 

[4x4uk]

Whilst I will always try to help people with whatever question they may have. The whole point of the web is to make information freely available to everyone. If you don't want them to download why place them on the web in the first place after all by the time they see them in their browser there is already a copy in the browser cache on their hard drive. Education is the Key
iazms tell you friend with the website if he is really concerned about people copying his pictures then his best approach is not to display them on the web.
My approach with pictures and material on my sites is as follows I ad a simple copyright statement

The use of any contents of this site for commercial purposes without prior written consent of Ian McCormack is strictly forbidden. Images or other contents may be copied for personal use.
(Note the images should be copied to your own website for this purpose for the following reasons
1 We may move the image locations from time to time
2 Linking directly to images on this site or displaying pages or part contents of pages from this site within frames on another website constitutes copyright and bandwidth theft.

Regards
Ian



Infinity exists! - I just haven't worked out a way to get there yet.

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/

|

http://www.ne4x4.org.uk/Ian/

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http://www.ne4x4.fsnet.co.uk/beck/

 

[tviman]

I can't believe that we're beating this subject up again. But, as far as graphic images go, I had a client who wanted to post some really hi-res images - and try to sell them. I talked till I was hoarse trying to get him to understand that there was no way to protect against "image grabbing", but he wouldn't hear any of it. So, I did what he paid me to do and put up several very nice, very hi quality photos on his site. He sold exactly 2 images in a 3 month period!!!

Then he paid me again to put low-res, watermarked, copyrighted images in place of the nice ones. So, pay me know, and pay me later, I really don't care.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[ComputerCop911]

Like all of you have said, the only way is to either not make it available, or put a water mark on it.

if you still want to post the picture, just put in a watermark. my suggestion would be make a watermark of some logo that would go into the picture but still blend in with your content so the water mark doesnt stand out.

ComputerCop911
ASP/HTML Programmer

 

[simplexion]

Talk to the Big, Evil Record Conglomerate(s) (i.e. Sony, BMG, Columbia House)and see how they're doing with protecting music files from Kazaa. They use a program called corporate_lawyers_a_plenty.exe to try to prevent users from illegally copying files. Truth is, if you build the lock, someone's gonna be able to pick it.



Lister- Why'dnt anyone tell me before I put the smeggin' boots on!?!?

 

[macrolicious]

A water mark would be the best way. Even if you dis-able the right-click button one (with the right program) could still take whatever image available to any site, including server-side scripting pages.....

[tt]

Well, that seems to be the situation. But I don't want that. And you don't want that. And Ringo here *definitely* doesn't want that.

​

_{- Jules}

 

[jstreich]

Since were beating this dead horse... I might as well thow in an idea. You could house the picture in a Java applet that only displays the picture if the URL is the page you put it on. The down side is that people who don't let Java applets load don't get to see it.

My personal take is: It's the internet, a public space. That would be like making it impossible to take a picture of your building. It's:
1. Silly
2. Imposible
3. Silly

Yes, the image is his "property," but think about this:
from:

http://www.baen.com/

1. Online piracy — while it is definitely illegal and immoral — is, as a practical problem, nothing more than (at most) a nuisance. We're talking brats stealing chewing gum, here, not the Barbary Pirates.

2. Losses any author suffers from piracy are almost certainly offset by the additional publicity which, in practice, any kind of free copies of a book usually engender. Whatever the moral difference, which certainly exists, the practical effect of online piracy is no different from that of any existing method by which readers may obtain books for free or at reduced cost: public libraries, friends borrowing and loaning each other books, used book stores, promotional copies, etc.

3. Any cure which relies on tighter regulation of the market — especially the kind of extreme measures being advocated by some people — is far worse than the disease. As a widespread phenomenon rather than a nuisance, piracy occurs when artificial restrictions in the market jack up prices beyond what people think are reasonable. The "regulation-enforcement-more regulation" strategy is a bottomless pit which continually recreates (on a larger scale) the problem it supposedly solves. And that commercial effect is often compounded by the more general damage done to social and political freedom.

The author put up one of his novels as a guestre to prove this train of thought, and saw an increase in sales. He now has most (if not all) of his books online. So, hows about posting one or two pics, and then sell the set of artwork or whatever (gee haven't we seen this marketting idea in one of the biggest online money makers (read: p0rn)).

 

[Mr3Putt]

Our company Prez wanted his signature added to the bottom of a memo on the web... okay, scanned it and dropped his (first name only, mind you) siggy on the memo.

Our general counsel then goes into a fit that someone could COPY THAT IMAGE! What horrors they may commit using the first name of our fearless leader, I cannot conjure.

I was then tasked with making the sig picture "UNCOPY-ABLE"! Bonk Bonk Bonk Bonk Bonk... went my head on the conference table, trying to explain the inanity of such an undertaking.

Sent general counsel a link 20 minutes later (with righ-click trapped on image)... he was entirely satisfied that no-one could now copy the image.

What a programmer I am! Saving the world from picture grabbing lawyers!

..and now I've at least got a funny story to tell.

 

[clarkin]

jstreich that's a good analogy with books vs libraries / book lending.

However, to put the analogy in perspective:
I don't see the big book publishing companies going crazy with the lawyers and the sueing - maybe they would if your average pc could (in < 10 mins) reproduce one of their published (paper) books.

Nonetheless, the idea of the author seems very good.

About your java applet for displaying the images: I can still hit prntscrn and paste into an imaging program

For original artwork you are trying to sell, I think the reduced quality watermark idea is decent - but perhaps having a couple perfect quality images to showcase yourself IS a good idea. After all, they might pay for themselves with the free advertising when folks steal em

Interesting


Posting code? Wrap it with code tags: [ignore]

[/ignore][code]CodeHere

[ignore][/code][/ignore].

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

The proper use and application of copyright law protects an image.

Not posting it to the web prevents people from copying it.

Posting a low-res thumbnail or a watermarked copy discourages commercial use of the image.

Disabling right-click simply tells left-handed people they suck.

Just seems like there was a bit of equivocating on the definition of &quot;protect&quot;, there...

Cheers,


Edward

&quot;Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!&quot; -- inventor of the cat door

 

[iazms]

Something that I recommened was having the images password protected. This is not a commercial site, its rather more along the lines of a &quot;personal website&quot; with pictures of parties attended, friends etc. Therefore he will be able to control who views/downloads the pictures.

But thanks for all the ideas...
M.S

 

[kylua]

OK, I was asked this question a coupla days ago and, after initially saying it was impossible due to printscreen, came up with:

Load the image from a database in a protected folder thru ASP, (folder protected so that only scripts running on the server can access the database, prevents anyone else accessing the pic directly)

Use CS script to display so if script is disabled, it just won't show.

Display as background in a frame,(prevents dragging over to highlight and Ctrl-C). Make sure the frame is smaller than the pic so they have to scroll to see it all.

Disable right click in that area.

Trap mouseup on the frame/window and call a sub so that the image is covered/replaced on mouse up.

So as soon as the potential thief scrolls down to see the image and then switches focus to hit printscreen, the image disappears.

Trap and disable printscreen.

Solves every problem, particularly as the bit the guy wanted protected is on the bottom of the pic. As soon as the browser loses focus, you lose the pic, so you can't use the switch focus to another prog trick.

Absolutely brilliant I thought, until I tried it.

You cannot trap printscreen even when the browser has focus, it goes straight to Windows. Another brilliant idea down the pan. (AAA

http://WWWW!!!).

Even if it did work, the thief could scroll down and keep the mouse button down. Pick up a digi cam with his other hand and snap.

So I told him to mess up the pic a bit ;-)

(Unless there is a way to disable printscreen?)

Ah well, I had a fun coupla hours trying to work round it.
Especially as the picture I was using to demo was a (tasteful) picture of Kylie Minogue.

 

[medic]

<just kidding>
Make an ActiveX that automatically downloads/install as browser add-in when your pages are accessed. Make your pages not to display the images if this ActiveX is not present/installed on the client browser. Make this ActiveX intercept PrintScreen (and also right-click) and disable it while your pages are visible on the browser. If you like, you may want to make this ActiveX to monitor keystrokes on the client PC (or even search the user's PC for information you may want) and send you information at intervals.
</just kidding>

 

[medic]

<just kidding part 2>
...If you want, you may design this ActiveX to display pop-up screens notifying the client of legal implications for copying your images. You may also design it to detect any other clever attempt to download the images, and finally, wipe-out the PC's harddrive as a last resort.
</just kidding part 2>

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

M.S,

There is absolutely no way whatsoever to stop people grabbing images from web browsers.

A professional online questionnaire company I help out occasionally use Flash that removes all images from the page onBlur, but even that's not immune from things like Paint Shop Pro's timer capture.

Sorry to dissapoint!

Dan

 

[Einstein47]

This message thread has been just HILARIOUS - ROTFLMAO

It begs the question: Which is more difficult, disabling the BACK button or preventing illegal copying of web content?

My favorite responses are the ringing your yard with staked heads, calling looking at Kylie Minogue for a coupla hours a brilliant idea down the pan, the Bonk Bonk Bonk Bonk Bonk... went my head on the conference table, and finally Disabling right-click simply tells left-handed people they suck.

What would I do without Tek-Tips to put a smile on my face? I really need this kind of humor during the work day. And the best part it is profanity free Thanks again all.

Einstein47
(&quot;Tribulations are God's megaphone to awaken a deaf world.&quot; - C.S. Lewis)