People being able to copy photos!

AltPro

[SIZE=+1]Hello...
I was just made aware, that even through all of the barriers that I thought were in place, there are people out there, able to somehow copy photos from my website! I am irritated to say the least! Gees, it's not like it cost so much to get a print that they should find it necessary to copy my work, even for their personal use... But I would really like to find a way to make it S-T-O-P!

Would be awesome if SmugMug could offer some sort of digimarc program that would show up embedded in the image if someone tried to copy it right off the site... I am really upset about this! I would upload using the "Proof Feature," but then everyone complains that it is so distracting to the images... Certainly with all of the technology available, there must be a way that SmugMug can help me protect my work?

I'd certainly appreciate any help or info you might be able to offer...

I remain,
ginette l.g. greene
www.throughthelensltd.com[/SIZE]

Andy

AltPro wrote:

[SIZE=+1]Hello...
I was just made aware, that even through all of the barriers that I thought were in place, there are people out there, able to somehow copy photos from my website! I am irritated to say the least! Gees, it's not like it cost so much to get a print that they should find it necessary to copy my work, even for their personal use... But I would really like to find a way to make it S-T-O-P!

Would be awesome if SmugMug could offer some sort of digimarc program that would show up embedded in the image if someone tried to copy it right off the site... I am really upset about this! I would upload using the "Proof Feature," but then everyone complains that it is so distracting to the images... Certainly with all of the technology available, there must be a way that SmugMug can help me protect my work?

I'd certainly appreciate any help or info you might be able to offer...

I remain,
ginette l.g. greene
www.throughthelensltd.com[/SIZE]

Hi Altie, Long Time No See

Not much you can do on any image that's displayed on the internet - if you show it, you are actually putting it in their computer (in the temp files). Savvy people can go in and find it. Folks can disable javascript right click protection. They can use screen grabbing sofware to get it.

Digimarc is a great solution - if you want the ultimate in after-the-fact proof and protection.

Watermarks are another - and a good way. Yes - we know you and others don't like the big PROOF mark - well, we hope to have a custom watermark feature for you! Stay tuned, and thanks again for posting - it's an excellent topic.

Holler if you have any qeustions.

Mike Lane

There's really no way to prevent someone from getting your pictures from the internet. If the picture shows up on someone's monitor, it has already been downloaded onto their computer. It would just be a matter of searching through their cache to get it. In fact, it doesn't really take that much effort. A person could simply open up a screen capture program and grab your picture that way.

Smugmug has done what they can. They make it so you can keep people from viewing large and original sized images. They have watermarking. They can make it so you can't link to your pictures externally. With all those protections in place, the only picture that people can get is a small pic with the word proof on it. That doesn't do people much good generally. And if they're willing to have that picture, then I can't see why they'd be willing to pay for it anyhow.

Barb

AltPro wrote:

[SIZE=+1]Hello...
I was just made aware, that even through all of the barriers that I thought were in place, there are people out there, able to somehow copy photos from my website! I am irritated to say the least! Gees, it's not like it cost so much to get a print that they should find it necessary to copy my work, even for their personal use... But I would really like to find a way to make it S-T-O-P!

Would be awesome if SmugMug could offer some sort of digimarc program that would show up embedded in the image if someone tried to copy it right off the site... I am really upset about this! I would upload using the "Proof Feature," but then everyone complains that it is so distracting to the images... Certainly with all of the technology available, there must be a way that SmugMug can help me protect my work?

I'd certainly appreciate any help or info you might be able to offer...

I remain,
ginette l.g. greene
www.throughthelensltd.com[/SIZE]

Hi

Smugmug has several features available to help in this area. If you have a Pro Account, you can right-click protect your photos. You can also disable the viewing of large and original photos. I do know that custom watermarking (other than the Proof watermark Smugmug offers) is on their list of things to do. You could always watermark your photos before you upload them. Just some ideas for you. The fact is, once a photo is viewed by someone, it's in their cache, and if they want it bad enough, can retrieve it from there. But a medium-sized or small photo won't do them much good.