andy206uk — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:08:59 +0000

Sweet... If it works that well I should probably knock up the code and write a tutorial and get this handy method out in the public domain

Greg K — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 16:55:30 +0000

That loks like a pretty good method, and probably combined with the php code would work well. I thought maybe doing a SAVE AS of the web page would include all files, but in both IE and Firefox it looks like it ignores grabbing any files called from CSS.

-Greg

andy206uk — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 13:51:34 +0000

A friend of mine asked me about this the other day. His only concern was the common 'right click > save as...' method for stealing images and I suggested the following. It's similar to your method but instead of putting a layer over the image, you asign the real image as a background to a semi transparent png watermark. The code looks like this:

<style type="text/css">

img.house {
	background: #fff url("house.jpg") scroll no-repeat bottom right;
}

</style>

<img src="watermark.png" width="640" height="480" class="house" />

It gets round the disabling css problem because if they disable the css they loose the image they want to steal! IE users get a transparent image but no watermark (which can be got around with a hack I believe). The only way around it is to either do a print screen (which means they get the watermark as well) or get into the source code find out where the image is and download it manually.

The last part could be stopped too, by using a php script to generate the image using GD from a file OUTSIDE your public web/httpdocs directory and check the refering script. If it's not your master page - don't render the image

You can see it in operation here (minus the php part):

http://bomb.org.uk/test/watermark/watermark.html

What do you guys think? Can you think of any other ways to get around it?

Images

mandyjb — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 02:26:03 +0000

Granted, for the determined thief then there is no true way of image theft no matter what. But, I do believe this can help slow them and make them take more time to discover how to get around it, and as we all know, the more hurdles you put in place the more they have to work and more likely to give up. Especially for the casual thief.

There are many ideas for protection, but combining them all is probably the best way although it can mean a little extra work load.

Thanks for the challenge, found some interesting info.

Mandy

Greg K — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 02:18:32 +0000

It was as simple as choosing VIEW->Page Style->No Style to separate them. I did a right click and VIEW IMAGE to come up with http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/image_test/graphics/test1.jpg

Another method would be to do VIEW SOURCE and see the name of the file

Another would be save the web page to your hard drive.

Just as effective as the "Disabling Right Click", only going to stop the people who are so new a e-mail threatening them to stop would most likely work.

Now that being said, it is usuable, just thought it was mistitled by being labled as "There is a way to stop people copying images.", becasue it doesn't stop it, but a good deterent against beginner theifs

copying images

mandyjb — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 02:07:21 +0000

This is the formula you wanted proving, granted if using a screenshot capture, it is unavoidable but, for the casual copier this has proven to be a time consuming deterrent, and as we all know that the more time someone has to spend gaining something the less they are interested and will move on.

URL for image below:

http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/image_test/test.html

Greg K — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:36:26 +0000

Mandy, give me a URL to a site with a sample of your protection, and I'll bet I can post a copy of your protected image here.

-Greg

the way to stop people copying your images

mandyjb — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 00:51:08 +0000

There is a way to stop people copying images.

1. Go to fireworks

2. create blank image (transparent) save as 'blank.gif'

3. create a layer over the image

4. Insert the blank.gif (transparent) over the image

When someone tries to save and copy your image all they get is your blank.gif

Try this and see.

Mandy

Arch — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:40:22 +0000

I've ran into problems with people stealing pictures off the site I run. I really don't think there's an absolute way to prevent them from stealing, but only to slow them down a bit. Watermark is the best, as mentioned by other forumers. I also put a disclaimer about stealing pictures and respecting copyrighted properties. Preventing people from right-clicking is also employed:
<body text="#C0C0C0" bgcolor="#000000" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" rightmargin="0" oncontextmenu="return false">'
Lastly, I put a .htaccess file to prevent filenames of pictures from being listed. I've confronted someone online over taking my pictures without my permission or acknowledging where it came from, but I was nice about it.

autoecart — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:30:00 +0000

Watermarking is best but make sure you place it in an area with lots of different colors and shades cause if you place it in an area that is one color all they have to do is color over it with one line of color and your watermark is gone.