protect images from being copied

[Optimus_Primo]

hello guys..

im a rookie in designing websites. the website im creating now composes a lot of pics and images which i dont want anyone or viewers to copy my pics and images. Is it a possible this pics/images will not be copied? is there a script to this that will work both on the Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers? your help is greatly appreciated.

tnx!

[Pixelchik]

I could be wrong, but I don't think there is any way to really prevent someone from taking your images. You could disable the right click to "Save As" to their computer, but then they could just "print screen" and take the image that way. You could put a watermark in the images to make it more undesireable to take, as someone would have to remove the watermark to use the image.

[pyro]

Originally posted by Pixelchik
I could be wrongNope, your right. There is no way to keep users from taking your images. Your best bet is going to be the watermark option...

[Optimus_Primo]

ic...but how do i watermark my pics?

[pyro]

Open them up in your favorite image editing program, and add a new, semi-transparent layer. This layer will contain the watermark. (normally a copyright notice).

[Optimus_Primo]

so...does it mean that i have to pay for licensing at Digimarc to make it work?

[Pixelchik]

You can watermark your image with anything basically. Sometimes when I send/email a client some artwork to proof, I will place a watermark (my logo) in the background of the PDF or JPG I send them. That way they won't likely try to use that image for anything. If you look at websites that sell clipart and photo images (i.e. Eyewire, ImageState, Photos to Go etc) the images you can use for comps have watermarks on them. When you pay for them, then they download clean and hi rez.

[Pixelchik]

I meant to say that the watermark is placed in the foreground of the image. It makes is harder to get rid of and less likely to be used.

[Cattman]

I know that it's impossible to completely prevent people from stealing pics on my website, but I do want to make it as difficult for those determined few as possible.

That being said, I put a javascript into my page that disables the right-click option, and I've read about the watermark idea. I've noticed that there is still the image toolbar that pops up on some of my picstures when the mouse passes over it. Is there away to automatically disable it (and keep it disabled) while people are viewing my page(s)?

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Dan (aka Cattman)

[Jona]

You can also trick image-theives by placing your image as the background of a TD, and overlapping it with a transparent image of 1x1 pixels (of course, just change the width and height in your HTML). This won't prevent them from getting the image, because again, they can just use print screen and get it... And you could even try Flash, but they can still use print screen... :o Sorry guys, I was thinking out loud... :p

[havik]

Everything leads back to print screen. Unless you use watermarks, your best bet is to go around and disable everyone's print screen button (but then they'd by a new keyboard :D)

Havik

[esm]

<META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no">

or

<img src="http://www.your site.com/images/icons/pixel.gif" width=15 height=1 border=0 align=bottom GALLERYIMG="no">

won't work for all browsers.

but the images are downloaded to your computer's hard drive and therefore exist in one of the internet folders.

Anyone can open up the folder and copy the image to whereever for their own use.

[Pelican]

If you want to protect the images stored on the server and in cache, consider using encrypted images that are displayed in a security applet. I'm surprised the option is not mentioned here because its been available since 1998.

If you want to further protect images from screen capture and printscreen, that solution is also available.

Of course there are workarounds to these solutions, but they have been the most secure solutions available since 1998 and it doesn't get better... no-one has comparable solutions despite their claims to the contrary.

Banks and online surveys use these solutions and they are the best available!

Want to know more?

See their demo site at www.artistscope.com

[acorbelli]

Wrong, encrypted anything can be decrypted (otherwise, what's the point?) and still taken.

Using a no-right click script is likely to drive visitors away, since the context menu is useful for many other things as well, and removing browser functionality that the user is used to having is never a great idea. It confuses people, frustrates them, and makes them less likely to visit your site in the future.

I would put a watermark on the image and leave a copyright notice on your page, that's really the best you can do.

[Tweak4]

If you want to protect the images stored on the server and in cache, consider using encrypted images that are displayed in a security applet. I'm surprised the option is not mentioned here because its been available since 1998.

If you want to further protect images from screen capture and printscreen, that solution is also available.

Of course there are workarounds to these solutions, but they have been the most secure solutions available since 1998 and it doesn't get better... no-one has comparable solutions despite their claims to the contrary.

Banks and online surveys use these solutions and they are the best available!

Want to know more?

See their demo site at www.artistscope.com

But they state right in the description that it does nothing to thwart screen captures. Even their "protected" images can be easily swiped with a mere 2 keystrokes:
1. Print Screen to copy the image and
2. Ctrl + V to paste the cap into another application
Even if you get fancy and crop you screen cap to size, it still is under 10 seconds start to finish.

I don't know why people refuse to believe it, but there is simply no way to prevent people from taking your images (or html source for that matter). If it's on the internet, people can get it. Watermarking may "discourage" people from posting your images as their own, but you simply can't prevent people from taking them. If an image is that important to you, then don't post it.

[MRMAN]

Another problem is that if the images don't have a link then you can drag the image into the address bar and that will open the image into a new page. You can also save the web page and that will save the images also.
The best way would be the water mark.
MRMAN

[felgall]

Watermarking is the only alternative that is even slightly effective. If you really need to be able to prove ownership then you may also want to add a digital watermark into the image source via Digimarc in addition to the visible watermark created by simply editing the image.