security

Image Security
Protect your Images on the Internet
What are your legal rights if they are stolen
by Chris Maher and Larry Berman

The Internet is a great way to show your photographs to the world. Putting images up on a web site is child’s play compared to hanging a gallery show or publishing a book. But what is to stop an unscrupulous web site visitor from stealing your images? In truth, all the images that are seen by your visitors are already copied and stored in their computer’s browser cache. But there are still effective, low cost ways of preventing their misuse.

One - Adding Your Copyright as a Text Layer.
This is the easiest and most effective way to protect your images. Placing the copyright symbol and your name directly in an image tells everyone that your work is copyrighted. We recommend including your web site URL (or phone number if you don’t have your own web site) so anyone who prints out or copies your picture can easily find you in the future. This turns every copied image into an advertisement for you.

Each graphics program handles text differently, but look for the Text Tool on the tool bar within your program. Use an easy to read font like Arial in a small point size. If your image has light and dark areas that make text hard to read you can select the area behind the text and reduce its contrast.

Two – Size and Compress Your Images Properly.
There are two benefits to this approach. Smaller images will reduce both the quality of a printout and will also speed page load time. Keep your image size to under 500 pixels on the long dimension. If anyone were to print it, it would either print small, or if forced to be a larger print the image will look pixilated (pixels will spread out). Next, compress your images until they just begin to show artifacts. This will help them load faster, and further reduce the chance they will be misused. We recommend using one of the side by side compression tools that give you a visual confirmation of how much you can compress the image before it starts to visually degrade. Photoshop's "Save For Web" (also available in Photoshop Elements) is our tool of choice. For more information on image compression, check out www.ImageCompress.com

Example of Image Slicing with a text copyright layer
The two halves of the image appear as one in HTML

Three – Image Slicing to protect your images.
Using your graphics program, you can slice your pictures into two or more slices. Right clicking and saving would only get the view the part of the picture that was clicked on. And the browsers cache will only have fragmented bits of images in it.

The individual image parts, which are really separate, pictures loading into different cells within the same table, are joined in the HTML when viewing the image on the web. An added benefit of slicing is shorter load time when you optimize each slice individually. In a program like ImageReady (part of Photoshop 6), different parts of the same image can be optimized as Gif’s or Jpeg’s.

Four – Right click disabling JavaScript.
The addition of a simple bit of JavaScript to the source code of a page can disable the right mouse button, and even pop up an alert box with a message of your choice. This won’t stop more sophisticated users, as a screen capture is still possible. And it can even be annoying to your visitors who prefer to use their right mouse button for navigation on the web.

Five - Mouseover image swap.
Another bit of JavaScript code can cause one image to replace another when the user’s mouse passes over it. The replacement image can include a warning about not copying your images.

Six – Table Background and Transparent GIF
This is a bit more complex, but quite effective. First create a table exactly the same size as the image you want to protect. Next, set the image as the table background. Create a transparent GIF with a similar name and exactly the same pixel dimensions as the original image and insert it into the table. If someone tries to copy it by right clicking on it, all they get is the transparent GIF.

Summary:
All six of these methods can help protect your images from improper use. They won’t stop a sophisticated user from accessing your work, but they will limit what can be done with it. The relatively low-resolution images you put on the web a wonderful way to promote your photography, and by taking some simple steps like including a copyright notice you can insure that they work for you no matter who sees them.

Examples:
To see examples of each technique described here, please visit http://bermangraphics.com/tips/sizing.htm

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Image Copyright Infringement
Taking Action against Online Copyright Infringement

What should you do if you discover someone has copied your photography or artwork, and is using it on their web site? As you are undoubtedly aware, everything you create is copyrighted the moment you produced it, and as the copyright holder, the law is clearly on your side. But there is much you can do before rushing out and hire a lawyer.

First, you should contact the site holder and discuss terms for the right to display your work. If there is no contact information on the site, or the email address on their site brings no response, there are several ways to find out who owns the domain where your work is being illegally shown. The powerful http://www.samspade.org site has tools for detecting the owners of both the domain and the company that hosts the domain on its servers. Or you can do a “WhoIs” lookup at

You may ask for a reasonable monetary payment, or you may find it advantageous to simply request credit with links back to the page on your site where people can purchase the work. If you feel that there is no advantage to them showing your work for you and want it taken down, ask them to remove it.

If contacting the domain name/ site owner does not bring you satisfaction, you should next contact the ISP or hosting company that actually has the site on it’s servers. Again, Sam Spade provides the free tools to do this.

Once notified, the hosting company or ISP is required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to immediately take the offending work off their customer’s site, or they may become liable for the copyright infringement themselves.

In our experience, small time freebee site owners are often oblivious regarding their responsibilities under copyright law but the hosting companies and ISPs are quite responsive. Occasionally, a hosting company will not respond in an appropriate manor, and it helps to send them a reminder of their legal responsibilities. If our first, friendly communication fails, we send the following message:

Dear Sirs,
Your responsibility once notified of a copyright violation is clearly defined, under Title II of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 511 et seq.). (To view a complete copy of the DMCA follow this link: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf) If you do not follow the "notice and takedown" provisions; your company becomes liable for the infringement. I even have the right to contact your upstream provider of Internet access, and request that they terminate your account if this infringement continues.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act gives me, as the copyright holder, the right to seek financial damages against any ISP or host as contributory or vicarious copyright infringer, if they fail to immediately remove the offending material. As a web host or ISP you can avoid financial liability if one of your subscribers offers an infringing copy online by immediately taking down the unauthorized material.

Title II of the DMCA also requires you to implement a policy of terminating the accounts of subscribers who are repeat infringers.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Pursuing a full-blown copyright infringement lawsuit is very expensive, and the rewards are often scant. Your work can be protected by clearly communicating with the infringing party and, if necessary, the cooperation of the hosting companies involved.

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