Can You Really Stop People Downloading
Your Images?
I believe that nothing is
100% secure online.
If people can hack their way
into the defence departments files, then I am fairly confident your
online images can never be totally safe.
That being
said; I
doubt that any hacker would go to a lot of trouble
to steal an image online. After all, you can't download an
original "Mona Lisa" anywhere online.
I got
interested in image protection several years ago for a couple of
reasons.
1] I wanted to sell limited edition
prints of some of my own paintings.
2] I had
photographers asking me to protect their images, on sites I was
building for them.
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This led me to hunt for a solution.
I spent
a
lot of time searching online for a program, script or instructions that
would secure images for me and my customers.
I
found programs
that varied in price from free to thousands of dollars. I must admit
that I did not do any research on the really expensive ones, as I do
not have anything that valuable to protect.
On the first day
I found a couple of programs that looked as though I had found my
solution. I was trying to decide on which one I
should buy; so I went
looking for people who had used the programs in forums.
I
felt foolish as I read how easy it was to by-pass these programs
protection features. Worse still, I felt frustrated as no one could
recommend an affordable program that worked.
As far
as I was
concerned publishing inferior quality [pixilated] images on
my
sites wasn't an option. Also I find images covered with copyright
watermarks objectionable. This led me to work on my own solution - and
I believe I have found an affordable way to stop most people from copying or downloading
your images.
Now before I get egg on my
face.
I realize that the method used here does not stop people from screen capturing the image.
I could write some code to stop screen capture.
However that would be a nasty bit of script that would effect the surfers clipboard, something that I am not prepared to do.
Then there is nothing to stop people from taking a digital shot of the screen with their cameras.
That being said, the method I have put in place to protect the image above, I believe could be very useful in some instances.
I
have found that the temptation for the average visitor to just print a
copy of images that you have for sale on your sites makes a big
difference to your bottom line. [even with copyright notices].
I believe my method of image protection works well for both, the visitor to your site and the vendor of the print image.
So
before I end up with egg on my face please try to download and print or
view the the picture above. If you manage to do so, please let me know
how you did it.
If you were unable to download and view or
print the image, please let me know as well.
To
let me know of your results I have posted a new topic in the General
Discussion board "The Picture Challenge" at
The
My Scribe Web Forum The Forum is free to join.
If
you do not want to take part in the forum on this topic you can send me
a direct message at my MessageForm
About
the image: This is an oil on canvas that I painted
of a mill on the island of Gotzo. ©
Katarina Jellinek 2004.
End
note; There is nothing within my methods that can harm your
computer in
any way, so please don't be afraid to try and download this picture.
You
should not have any problems in saving, printing, copying or
downloading the image - what you get to see in your results is another matter.
Please
help me test this image protector so that I can produce an effective
end product.
Check
out all that I do Online
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