Security

jeffmtnman

:scratchI have right click security enabled on some of my photos but it only works on individual photos. When I right click on the thumbnail that represents a gallery or catagory I am able to download the photo. It only downloads as a thumbnail but it is stealable ( is that a word, lol ) none the less.
Anyone know how to fix this.

Thanks,
Jeff

jfriend

jeffmtnman wrote:

I have right click security enabled on some of my photos but it only works on individual photos. When I right click on the thumbnail that represents a gallery or catagory I am able to download the photo. It only downloads as a thumbnail but it is stealable ( is that a word, lol ) none the less.
Anyone know how to fix this.

Thanks,
Jeff

It does appear that gallery or category thumbnails are not right-click protected. Someone from Smugmug will have to comment on why they didn't implement that or didn't think it was important.

What I would ask is why are you worried about someone borrowing a thumbnail? It's a very small image and can't be printed into any reasonable sized print. In order to display your images on the web, you have to get used to the fact that much of what you display can be borrowed.

You might also need to understand that right-click protection is only a very slight deterrent. Anyone with any web-savvy can easily get around right-click protection. After all, if a browser can download the image to display it, so can many, many other programs. Thus is the nature of the web. If it can be displayed, it can be borrowed/stolen pretty easily. I'm not arguing against right-click protection, just trying to make sure you have proper expectations when using it.

Andy

Right, we don't right click protect the thumbnails. totally with the rest of what jfriend says, too

eschrad

I have discovered that even if I turn on right-click protection, turn off easy sharing, and block external links, it is still possible to get to an image simply by going to...

http://[username].smugmug.com/photos/[imageID]-[size: S, M, L, XL].jpg

Granted, most people won't figure this out, but anyone familiar with the inner workings of Smugmug can use this to get to anyone else's images, regardless of their settings.

Case in point...

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/152358153-XL.jpg (Apologies Andy, but at least you have watermarking!) -- NOTE: To make it work, you have to copy and paste the link in to a browser address bar. Simply clicking on the link here does seem to run into the "External Link Block".

So it seems the only real way to safeguard your images is to use watermarking, which I don't particularly like.

I guess we just have to realize that if we want to put our images online for business or marketing purposes, we have to accept the fact that they are very much at risk of being stolen. I think the only way to put them online where they can't be stolen is to use Flash.

jfriend

eschrad wrote:

I have discovered that even if I turn on right-click protection, turn off easy sharing, and block external links, it is still possible to get to an image simply by going to...

http://[username].smugmug.com/photos/[imageID]-[size: S, M, L, XL].jpg

Granted, most people won't figure this out, but anyone familiar with the inner workings of Smugmug can use this to get to anyone else's images, regardless of their settings.

Case in point...

http://williams.smugmug.com/photos/152358153-XL.jpg (Apologies Andy, but at least you have watermarking!) -- NOTE: To make it work, you have to copy and paste the link in to a browser address bar. Simply clicking on the link here does seem to run into the "External Link Block".

So it seems the only real way to safeguard your images is to use watermarking, which I don't particularly like.

I guess we just have to realize that if we want to put our images online for business or marketing purposes, we have to accept the fact that they are very much at risk of being stolen. I think the only way to put them online where they can't be stolen is to use Flash.

Yes, this shows you how easy it is to defeat right-click protection. Watermarking and limiting the max viewing size are the only complete forms of protection. For folks who aren't pros and don't really have any money on the line, it seems to make sense to either do a light and very unobtrusive watermark, not near the center or just don't worry about it.

If you aren't a pro, your objective for posting on the web in the first place is most likely to share your images with others so concentrate on that and don't worry if your images get borrowed a few times.

For folks who are pros who think they will achieve more business $$$ if their images are securely protected, then a more serious watermark combined with limiting the max viewing size is the best protection. Watermarks can be done tastefully with appropriate size and transparency and not ruin the viewing experience, but they have to be somewhat visible in order to be successful.

So, you kind of have to pick your method depending upon which tradeoff you want to accept.