How Do I Protect Images on Website?

15 years ago

I would suggest you place a copyright watermark on your images (this can be done in Photoshop but can bloat the image size). Also to stop people linking to your images (and using your bandwidth) I would suggest you URL rewrite so only your own site can present the image (you can add an alternative image to ensure the thief changes his ways!

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Cyrus 15 years ago
Code:

RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www.)?yourdomain.com [NC] RewriteRule .(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ - [NC,F,L]
edit .htacces, and place this code... change yourdomain.com to your sitename
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aleserlee

15 years ago

I don't know above code works for all webpage or for PHP. My suggestion is to make use of vector image format. It is break and make image that appears to be as one piece when viewed. This is actually helpful when one tries to save it for thier use. They cannot play or morphed around with image. This is very much tied to pixel rather percentage based. Also you can check /validate and lock image through encryption and decryption format using code.

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Marty S 15 years ago

If the images belong to them (not from royalty free) then do above with the watermark or logo - but make sure it is a URL address. Your client should understand that further use of those images will likely result in more traffic back to the website URL used in the logo.

Your images should also be tagged extensively so they show up in Google image searches related to your clients product/service. The more and higher those images show in search, the more they will get used, and the more traffic you will get in return.

In this case, embrace content thieves by getting them to work for you!
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Pixus

15 years ago

If the thief wants to steal the image, he will do it. Even from flash or image sliced in a table, just through PrintScreen. Watermark is good, but only if it's big and covers at least half of the image.

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Steve Ranger

15 years ago

There are services that have the technology to search
for people that have taken your image and used it on
there websites. I just can't remember the name.

But yeah, like Pixus stated - the only thing that will work
is a big watermark.

Cyrus seems to have posted htaccess code that stops
a user from leeching your images.

Thanks
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Pixus 15 years ago

Originally Posted by Steve Ranger

There are services that have the technology to search
for people that have taken your image and used it on
there websites. I just can't remember the name.

I use two services:

Gazopa.com and tineye.com - both are available as a firefox addon
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- DogScout 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Pixus
  
  I use two services:
  
  Gazopa.com and tineye.com - both are available as a firefox addon
  
  Both easy to get around. Fact is there is no way to protect images online. Even watermarks are relatively easy to remove. You can spend as much time and money as you like, but it is wasted if it is 'designed' to protect or track images. The only safety is in the fact most online images are only 72DPI and don't print well. But for other on-line use, I can get around anything and I am not even trying.
  
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MoneyRaker

15 years ago

Even I would recommend placing a watermark on you images.

I'd recommend using watermarktool.com for this purpose, cause its a real quick way of effectively placing a watermark on ur images.

Also I'd recommend that you read the following article .... really answers ur question well.

10+ Ways To Protect Images From Being Stolen|Website Design Blog

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Karan Goel

15 years ago

Thanks for the link mate!

Really good info!

Originally Posted by MoneyRaker

Even I would recommend placing a watermark on you images.

I'd recommend using watermarktool.com for this purpose, cause its a real quick way of effectively placing a watermark on ur images.

Also I'd recommend that you read the following article .... really answers ur question well.

10+ Ways To Protect Images From Being Stolen|Website Design Blog

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lazfin

15 years ago

If you use an htaccess referer method to prevent image hotlinking, does it really prevent Google Images from accessing and displaying the image? When I check the url source of a G image result, it looks like the image has been thumbnailed into a G database, not hotlinked.

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MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

15 years ago

[DELETED]

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thunderbird

15 years ago

Originally Posted by MarkAndrews IMCopywriting

It will track all of your images across the Internet
whether they have been altered or not, with a
digital watermark invisibly embedded within the
image itself.

PicScout ImageTracker?- The industry standard for image copyright enforcement - PicScout - Every Image Gets Its Credit?

That is excellent! It would hardly help a website to deface it in order to protect images on it (unless it is the images themselves that are for sale), and that's the crux of my technical challenge. It would be also be a great way to see how images are spreading a brand-name for anyone not caring if they are stolen (and maybe even wanting them to be stolen).

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Groovy99

15 years ago

If you have the time put a watermark in then do that and that will keep away the little fish who are just going to hack up your images and detract from your brand. Your not going to stop the big fish from scraping them in any case but on the bright side they will have the tech skills to at least present your products correctly. I tend to agree with Marty, do everything you can to make them work for you!

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thunderbird

15 years ago

Like others here, I prefer to utilize images for extra SEO, ie google images. It is a client, not me, who wants to somehow block off the images from being downloaded. I am letting them know the progs of letting them copy away, since it actually helps broadcast the brand (and it isn't an image selling site anyway). Images can easily be copied with Print Scr. However, if the client is insistent, I'll do what I can to guard the images.

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NowIstheTime

15 years ago

Not a complete solution, but something that you can implement immediately if you have a decent cpanel host is to "disable the hotlinking of images". You will find an icon in your cpanel host with the words "hotlink protection"

It usually involves 2 steps.

1. Simply click "Enable", to block all sites outside of your account from linking directly to the picture.

2. Whitelisting the sites that you want to allow specifically. ex. if you want to post an image hosted on your site to warrior forums, you would specifically add hxxp://www.warriorforum.com to the hotlink whitelist.

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BaldwinKoo

14 years ago

You can also try Image Guard | Protect your images online with automatic watermarking and other special effects! Stop Hot Linking cold as well (non-affiliate). I haven't used it myself but I think that is what you might be looking for.

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David Bryant

14 years ago

As it has been said, anyone could steal an image using the print screen function. Though, if you are looking for a quick fix, here are a few alternatives to the above suggestions...

You could disallow the right click function on the site; use CSS to set the image as part of the background; or cover the image with a transparent image that matches its size. I have use the ladder in the past. When someone tries to save the image, they just end up with a blank...