Anti-steal webpage protection

Tarlash · Mon 31/05/2004 15:38:40

My problem is that, I'm doing a site and I don't want to have anyone to took graphics from it without my permission. Of course, it should be said, but many people will have this legal stuff ... somewhere. I can't think of anything efficient, because of many ways to grab the graphics:

1.Right click & save target as/preferences->look to directory
2.Mark like text and CTRL-C,CTRL-V
3.Save page on disk
4.Use special program

My friend said me one of stupidest ideas:
To ad nick on every cell (it's comix). And it looks bad, and is easy to erate.

So, any ideas?

SSH · Mon 31/05/2004 15:53:50

Foolproof method: have a text-only page

If you're going to let people download pics into a browser, then you can't really stop them grabbing the pics: it has already been transferred to their cache, so how can you stop it going further?

However, you may be able to stop the "casual" theif by:

1. Put a faint watermark on it (using a nearly transparent text layer in photoshop, etc.)
2. Put a copyright message at the bottom/side of the image (like Dilbert)
3. Use some Javascript to disable the right-mouse button menu
4. Use Flash to display all your GFX

Basically, when it comes to stopping peopel downloading anything, your only recourse is to the same that the RIAA uses: sue people.

evenwolf · Mon 31/05/2004 15:55:26

Even if you can protect from people saving the image itself, someone can always "printscreen' and crop the image. My suggestion- don't worry about it. I know very few people who have had their images "stolen' and used without their permission.

Mr Jake · Mon 31/05/2004 15:57:58

and what ever you do, dont do that disable right click thing, its so god damn annoying

Tarlash · Mon 31/05/2004 16:03:51

SSH: Watermark? I like this idea!
kingsized:

QuoteI know very few people who have had their images "stolen' and used without their permission.

I hope...
Hotspot: Annoying is too smalll word

stuh505 · Mon 31/05/2004 17:08:47

speaking from the perspective of someone who frequently nabs such images off of the net...i can tell you that the watermark is the only method that actually "works"...although, i can remove those sometimes with photoshop but it's just a real pain. if you make the watermark a different color other than just lighter (like yellower) it will be harder as well. but honestly, why would you not want people to use your pictures? the internet is for sharing

Meowster · Mon 31/05/2004 18:21:10

If I ever meet one of those people that disables right clicks, I will destroy them.

Watermarking is good. However, why do you want to protect the images? Perhaps you have a good reason, I'm only asking because I know a lot of people who are new to the internet or whatever and think that if they don't slap copyright over everything they upload, people will steal it and claim it as their own... which never actually happens.

Remember the guy that offered to compose music for games, but them said he couldn't show us samples because they were all copyrighted? Ha ha ha. Man, I was so looking forward to stealing his work and claiming it as my own...

Anyway, I would also go with watermarking, if you really think it's necessary.

Quote
the internet is for sharing

Ha ha ha.

Andail · Mon 31/05/2004 19:31:37

It's true that mostly n00bs care about copy protection....if you visit some of the most famous internet artists, they will have thousands of pictures, with which you can do whatever your fancy tickles.

Then again, they are already famous, so...

SSH · Mon 31/05/2004 19:34:09

On the other hand, CJ hasn't made AGS open-source...

Andail · Mon 31/05/2004 21:17:26

An image can hardly be compared to a life-time project such as AGS....additionally, there are other reasons for AGS not being open source as well, such as the possibility of people cracking released games and changing them or whatever

Matt Goble · Mon 31/05/2004 21:18:26

The great thing about those 'disabled right click' sites, is that it's just Javascript, so using a browser like Mozilla Firefox you can just click on the tab and de-select 'Allow Javascript'.

Of course if you're using IE, you have hover you mouse over an image to get context sensitive icons to save, print etc.

Watermarking seems to be the only true method - but make sure you way up the size of your watermark against the appearance of your image. Too small and people can remove it easily. Too big and people will most likely get pissed off and loose interest.

Matt

Hollister Man · Tue 01/06/2004 01:39:25

My favorite solution is as several good online comics do. Give away (don't watermark) fairly good pictures, just enough to read and enjoy. Have a way for people who might REALLY like your work to get a paper or digital copy in higher resolution.

Really, only another noob would steal your art and say "Hey look what I did!" Most people with enough skill or ethics to actually make anything would scoff at stolen art. Maybe 'emulated' or 'painted over' but not stolen.

Besides, if someone really likes your pic, what if they want to put it on their desktop and read it every day?

rodekill · Tue 01/06/2004 15:54:27

I used to have the right-click thing. It was annoying I guess, although I'm not quite sure why people wanted to right click on my page anyways.

Suffice it to say, the best solution is probably to be as frustrating as you can. I suggest cutting the image into pieces and assembling them with tables in html.