Web Sites - Protecting our displayed images?

[Greg Miller]

Dear Jack,

Image theft is always possible, but there are a few tricks available to the web page creator, to make it a bit more difficult...

Most browsers allow you to right click and, or drag and drop an image to the desktop, but you can place an blank or transparent GIF image on top of the image, within your web page for the user to download. I also have a few lines of code, that will prevent a user from dragging and dropping, and right clicking an image, but this code disables all such events on a specific web page. This code does not prevent drag and drop or right clicking with every browser available on the market today. A few inexperienced users will certainly become annoyed with your page and obviously leave.

That said, the easiest way to prevent theft by a casual user, even if my pseudo code fails, is for you to create a blank 1X1 pixel GIF, and lay it on top of your image, where your image is set as a background image within the table cell. The casual user might not realize an image can be stolen by other means, such as an image grabbing tool, which can take a snap shot of the screen image. Users, knowledgeable about this utility, will succeed.

Other means of theft are available, such as access to the root code in the web page, which identifies the source of the image on the server, and with a few lines of code by the perpetrator, the image can be secured and downloaded directly to their desktop. There are means to prevent this on your server, but most ISP's do not go the extra mile to prevent this, unless you control your own server software. I can write code to steal an image in a heartbeat, as long as I can see the image location, on the server...

Many people place Copyright Notices somewhere on their page and, or on top of their images, in case their images are grabbed by screen capture utilities. It is somewhat difficult to remove these Copyright Notices, but never impossible in Photoshop, by an experienced user. A few people also make their images 72dpi, which is a good idea, and better for loading images on the web page, to prevent their higher quality images from appearing elsewhere, such as their office wall. It is more difficult, and expensive, to chase a Copyright violation, but many laws do exist to assist the creator.

So, if you are interested on a few simple tricks, and you are capable of creating your own web page, I will send you a few lines of code to help you along...

If you use a webpage creation tool, such as Adobe's GoLive, I can show you what to do in the table cells to prevent dragging and, or right clicking an image to the desktop, and placing a transparent GIF in the table cell. It is a simple process, but not foolproof.

jim k

Like robc mentioned, a windows PC user only has to use the "print screen" button to copy the entire page into the clipboard, and then paste into any image editting software (e.g. Photoshop). I think any extra coding to try to prevent image theft is a theft of valuable time. Anybody stealing images for profit will know how to do this. Any extra coding only stops the casual theif and they are not the ones you should worry about.

[chris jordan]

I don't bother trying to protect my web images at all, even with my name embedded in a corner (which is easy to Photoshop out). The images are such low resolution that the only thing they could be used for is display on someone's website, which I don't mind too much. If someone copied them from my site and printed them, the images would only be something like 1x2 inches @ 300 dpi, so I'm pretty confident that there aren't pirates out there printing books and calendars and postcards from website images.

It is also helpful for publishers to be able to pull the images off my website for use in layouts. When they have gotten the layout done with the low-res images, they send me the exact sizes of the images they want, and I send the high-res files at that size. So I prefer to take the risk of having people pirate the images, in favor of the convenience that it gives legitimate people to use the images, e-mail them to others, etc.

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com

[paulr]

I don't bother trying to protect my web images at all, even with my name embedded in a corner (which is easy to Photoshop out). The images are such low resolution that the only thing they could be used for is display on someone's website, which I don't mind too much. If someone copied them from my site and printed them, the images would only be something like 1x2 inches @ 300 dpi, so I'm pretty confident that there aren't pirates out there printing books and calendars and postcards from website images.

That's my feeling exactly. I put them on the web so people can look at them onscreen ... and that's all the images are really good for.

If someone wanted to make a crappy printout of one of my pictures and hang it on the wall--i guess technically that's breaking the rules, but why should I care? it's not like that's actually competing with print sales. i'd be flattered to know people are ripping me off like that

[QT Luong]

It is worth watermarking your images with your name and website. Most people do not remove them, so at least you get credit. Those who do so violate the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and provide further proof that their infringement is willfull, should any action against them be needed.

[Michael Daily]

The problem is the same as for the musicians and Napster. The only way for you to keep it from being stolen is to: 1. do such a poor job that it is not worth stealing, or 2. don't put in the public arena. The problems with Napster, music, and movies has shown all the world that the only way to prevent unwanted downloads is to not post it.
Michael

[Marko]

There is simply no way to prevent people from downloading an image posted on a web page. Except for Flash sites, one does not even need the right click or any "special code" - any image displayed on the screen is stored in the browser's cache regardless of the browser or platform and can be readily extracted from there even after quiting the browser.

Like Michael said, if you don't want it taken, don't post it. Anythng else is snakeoil, pure and simple. There are so many things web developers' time (and clients' money) should be used for. Like learning web standards or proper coding practices, for example.

About "screen resolution": I've seen the "72dpi is the screen resolution" statement repeated in every single discussion about displaying art...

There is no such thing as "screen resolution". 72dpi, 144 dpi or 300dpi, the DPI - Dots Per Inch - is a print-related term, it simply makes no sense and no difference whatsoever on screen. It is the pixel matrix and pixel matrix only that makes any difference on screen. Pixels high x Pixels wide. Nothing else.

If you don't believe me, try it for yourself. Take an image and size it to, say 500 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. Then create three identical copies and make each 2000dpi, 300dpi and 72dpi without changing the pixel size. Heck, while at it, make another one and give it 1dpi. Then compare them any way you want, they'll all have exactly the same byte size, they'll all display the same on the screen and they'll take exactly the same time to download. And they will either be too small or too rasterized for even causal print use.

[Michael Daily]

Marko's point is well stated is his signature line:
There's (sic) only 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't. Digital is binary.
Michael

[Morten]

Is this the www.largeformatphotography.info web site or the www._micro_formatphotography.info web??

Why are we in this area (LF) of photography? to make and publish our pictures on the the web??

There is NO way your real LF image can be stolen via the web!!!! the computer will not get hold of your YOUR carefully developed and cared for negative / slide..

The low res __scan__ published on the web can (and will be) stolen... But really, what can it be used for ?? other than the web?

And the web is one of the ways to promote your self (using the low res pics... ) (in printing terms)

You could also select to NOT display your prints on the web.... but then ??

Best regards
Morten

Ps If you BTW have print ready high res scan easy available the web, pls send me a email with the url :-) :-)

[Marko]

Michael,

Your point has also been well taken. I knew somebody would notice. Eventually.

[400d]

Internet is a public space, don't want to share it? Don't post it.

There are some softwares out there claim they can protect the code and what not. BS. I will crack that crap open, no matter it's php, asp, cgi-bin, flash, shockwave, javascript...etc., when I encounter so called hidden scripts, it only triggers me to crack it open more vigorously.