Protected Images Downloaded by client

Heatherb

As a professional user, I just recently found out that my "protected" images were downloaded, the entire gallery to my client's harddrive.


Their workaround was to use the "Share with friends,family" link at the bottom of the page, which I never turned off (on by default), cut and paste the link into a new IE browser and right click, save as.

I wasn't sure if you were aware of this major issue, since I was under the assumption that my gallery images were protected, the major reason for upgrading to Professional account.

I think if you chose a "Protected " option, that by default it should REMOVE the share with friends and family link. Or by default this should be TURNED off. I should have looked into this innoculous menu pick a little bit more too. Maybe its in some documentation somewhere....

Wasn't sure if you were aware of this, and if you are, it wasn't clear to me as a professional account holder of this major backdoor. That client has not ordered any images from her session, and probably won't when she has them all downloaded on her computer.

onethumb

Heatherb wrote:

As a professional user, I just recently found out that my "protected" images were downloaded, the entire gallery to my client's harddrive.


Their workaround was to use the "Share with friends,family" link at the bottom of the page, which I never turned off (on by default), cut and paste the link into a new IE browser and right click, save as.

I wasn't sure if you were aware of this major issue, since I was under the assumption that my gallery images were protected, the major reason for upgrading to Professional account.

I think if you chose a "Protected " option, that by default it should REMOVE the share with friends and family link. Or by default this should be TURNED off. I should have looked into this innoculous menu pick a little bit more too. Maybe its in some documentation somewhere....

Wasn't sure if you were aware of this, and if you are, it wasn't clear to me as a professional account holder of this major backdoor. That client has not ordered any images from her session, and probably won't when she has them all downloaded on her computer.

If you have Originals and/or Larges turned off, the "share with friends, family" link won't help them retrieve those photos - they're impossible to get.

Did you leave these options on?

The entire reason we provide so many options is to provide you with complete control over how strict or lax on your permissions you'd like to be.

With protection on, originals off, larges off, and watermarking on, it's literally impossible for anyone to get any useable image. You can even turn sharing off, though that's not necssary.

As the account holder, though, you're responsible for choosing those settings yourself to protect your photos. We're happy to help, and so are lots of other Pros here, but this isn't a security hole.

Don

grannyrobin

Heatherb wrote:

As a professional user, I just recently found out that my "protected" images were downloaded, the entire gallery to my client's harddrive.


Their workaround was to use the "Share with friends,family" link at the bottom of the page, which I never turned off (on by default), cut and paste the link into a new IE browser and right click, save as.

I wasn't sure if you were aware of this major issue, since I was under the assumption that my gallery images were protected, the major reason for upgrading to Professional account.

I think if you chose a "Protected " option, that by default it should REMOVE the share with friends and family link. Or by default this should be TURNED off. I should have looked into this innoculous menu pick a little bit more too. Maybe its in some documentation somewhere....

Wasn't sure if you were aware of this, and if you are, it wasn't clear to me as a professional account holder of this major backdoor. That client has not ordered any images from her session, and probably won't when she has them all downloaded on her computer.

I often think of help sections as useful only when I have a problem. Smugmug's help pages, however, I tend to use as a reference manual. At first glance, they can appear so light-hearted that it's easy to think there won't be good info there. When I get into the heart of them though, I change my mind about that. Here's one that concerns image protection for pros. http://www.smugmug.com/help/image-protection

I hope it wasn't your originals that they gained unathorized access to. If it was, I hope no one ever does ever again.
-Robin

Andy

Heatherb wrote:

That client has not ordered any images from her session, and probably won't when she has them all downloaded on her computer.

first off - they're *your* images, protected by your ownership - you should have recourse against your client if they're ripping you off

secondly, i'll echo what don and robin have said... as a pro, you should intimately familiarize yourself with all the options on your service.

cheers and i hope it works out for you...