Image copyright and copyright theft
from Paul L.G. Morris: an experienced, respected and qualified Computer Advisor.
Is it possible to prevent my images from being copied?
How you can protect images from being copied from a web site? The fact is, that there is no simple and foolproof way of doing this - all you can do is make it that bit more difficult. Why? Because the image has to be copied to your computer for the web browser to show it. So it exists in the browser's cache (temporary file store) and it can be copied from there.
My view is that for most purposes, it is not worth the effort: if your image is that valuable, consider whether it should be on the web. If really want to implement one of the techniques that make it more difficult, any search will find many resources explaining how to do it. This article I found that seemed better than many, and this one compares a number of different techniques.
Before you go down that path, I suggest you consider why you want to do this and what you want to achieve. This is a useful resource that discusses some of the issues.
So what can you do? You cannot stop the image being copied, so the next step is to mark it as being yours. The most obvious way is to put a copyright notice on the image. The downside is that the image is in danger of being spoilt. It is a matter for you to judge, keeping in mind the value of the image and the risk of it being copied, how prominent the copyright notice should be.
Methods of placing copyright notices vary, examples being:
Many image editing tools allow some text to be placed over an image. The sophistication comes in with effects like embossing, drop shadows, precise placement and being able to do a batch of photographs at once. It is worth checking the help information on the image editing or album tools you have (often you get one free when you buy a digital camera) to see what features they provide.
A second method is by visible watermarking the image using software specially designed for the job. These vary, but typically put some semi-transparent text over the image. Many of these are designed to process a batch of images in one go. Some also do other things such as generating thumbnails. Searching for 'image watermarking software' will reveal a number of suppliers.
The final method is invisible watermarking. The method here is to add information to the image that can be tracked over the internet - see this item for more information. This works in that you can find who is stealing your images. The downsides are that it doesn't inform the viewer that this is a copyrighted image, and if it is stolen, what do you then do?
What do I do? Depending on the image and its purpose, I either add an embossed watermark to an appropriate place on the image, or I place some grey text in a corner of the image. For some images I don't even bother!
Finally, I want to make you aware of one insidious method some use to place other peoples images on their own web pages - they just link the image in directly. This means that they get the image, but you pay for the hosting and bandwidth (traffic costs). There is no easy way to stop this. One idea, if you find yourself in this situation, is to replace the image with another holding text similar to "this image is stolen". But make sure it doesn't appear on your website or partners legitimately using it.
My view is that for most purposes, it is not worth the effort: if your image is that valuable, consider whether it should be on the web. If really want to implement one of the techniques that make it more difficult, any search will find many resources explaining how to do it. This article I found that seemed better than many, and this one compares a number of different techniques.
Before you go down that path, I suggest you consider why you want to do this and what you want to achieve. This is a useful resource that discusses some of the issues.
So what can you do? You cannot stop the image being copied, so the next step is to mark it as being yours. The most obvious way is to put a copyright notice on the image. The downside is that the image is in danger of being spoilt. It is a matter for you to judge, keeping in mind the value of the image and the risk of it being copied, how prominent the copyright notice should be.
Methods of placing copyright notices vary, examples being:
- Placing some small text in a corner (which can be trimmed off)
- Putting a bolder notice across the middle of the image (which tends to spoil it)
- Putting semi-transparent text over the image - again this can spoil the effect
- To use text that gives an embossed effect - this does not intrude on the image as much as solid text would, but can still be bold enough to be noticed
Many image editing tools allow some text to be placed over an image. The sophistication comes in with effects like embossing, drop shadows, precise placement and being able to do a batch of photographs at once. It is worth checking the help information on the image editing or album tools you have (often you get one free when you buy a digital camera) to see what features they provide.
A second method is by visible watermarking the image using software specially designed for the job. These vary, but typically put some semi-transparent text over the image. Many of these are designed to process a batch of images in one go. Some also do other things such as generating thumbnails. Searching for 'image watermarking software' will reveal a number of suppliers.
The final method is invisible watermarking. The method here is to add information to the image that can be tracked over the internet - see this item for more information. This works in that you can find who is stealing your images. The downsides are that it doesn't inform the viewer that this is a copyrighted image, and if it is stolen, what do you then do?
What do I do? Depending on the image and its purpose, I either add an embossed watermark to an appropriate place on the image, or I place some grey text in a corner of the image. For some images I don't even bother!
Finally, I want to make you aware of one insidious method some use to place other peoples images on their own web pages - they just link the image in directly. This means that they get the image, but you pay for the hosting and bandwidth (traffic costs). There is no easy way to stop this. One idea, if you find yourself in this situation, is to replace the image with another holding text similar to "this image is stolen". But make sure it doesn't appear on your website or partners legitimately using it.