Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 5:05:59 GMT
Some of the images posted by members in the various forums are really amazing. Some members also kindly post links in their signatures, or whatever, to their other online galleries. I decided to click one of these links posted by one member, whose images are wonderful. On his/her other online gallery there is an abundance of more amazing photos. The photographer (for obvious reasons I won't mention his/her name) mentions on their gallery that the photos are for sale. This immediately pricked my curiosity (as I have some web site development experience) to see how secure these photos, for sale, are from unscrupulous people (and there are countless numbers roaming the Internet) who might want to simply download the images without having to pay for them. I tried the first thing a would be thief would try and that is to right click the image to see if the normal context menu with the "Save image..." option pops up. I got a message saying "Right clicking has been disabled...". Ok, no problem. That is extremely easy to get around. The error message is generated by the web page using Javascript - a scripting language used by every browser that I can think of. To get around the disabling of the "right-click" all a visitor has to do is switch off javascript temporarily in their browser (via their browser options/preferences settings) and then when the visitor clicks on the image the normal context menu with the "Save image.." option appears and the visitor can then download the image free of charge. So the moral of this post is: if you have images posted anywhere on the Internet and you don't want to make it extremely easy for people to simply steal them, especially if they are for sale, then you cannot rely on just Javascript to protect your images. If you haven't built your online gallery yourself, it might be wise to consult your web site developer to ensure they are using much more robust methods to protect your images. At the end of the day, you cannot stop anyone from taking a screen shot of your image but there are relatively simple ways to ensure all they escape with are virtually unusable thumbnails or something similar. The above concept and info is nothing new. It is widely discussed in countless web site development forums scattered over the Internet. But looking at some of the online galleries on the Internet, some gallery owners seem to be either very niaive, or do not care about the security of their photos/images. btw, fwiw, I didn't download any of the photos from the gallery I visited. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 6:09:25 GMT
This is is an interesting web page discussing in a light-hearted but informative way, the vulnerability of online images and how to reduce it. Hope it helps someone  skinnyartist.com/stop-stealing-my-images/ |
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Madame
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Post by Madame on Jul 15, 2015 7:54:46 GMT
Thank you for raising the question, fstop. I will investigate further when I have the time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 12:11:58 GMT
No problem Marianne . I have sent an email to the gallery owner just to let him/her know, in case they are not aware, their photos are highly vulnerable atm. It's up to him/her what they do about it now. |
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Squirrel2014
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Where's that cup of tea ... ???
Posts: 685
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Squirrel2014 on Jul 15, 2015 16:36:31 GMT
This is a very interesting and useful thread. I don't post photos so I don't have this issue but do realise how easy it can be to 'lift' images from the internet and therefore, obviously, security does need to be in place.
I also think it's very good to alert anyone to the vunerability of their images being copied, so well done for that f-stop
However, I'm not sure giving detailed instructions, or even the idea of what to research for, is such a good idea. Personally, I wouldn't have given Javascript a thought as to how to over-ride a disabled Right click but now that you've mentioned it, it only took me a couple of minutes (if that) to find out how to do that.
In my opinion, I would like to see these details etc removed from the post. Lack of instructions as to what to do etc won't detract from the worthwhile essence of what is being suggested.
Julie
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 23:17:32 GMT
Hi Julie. Thank you for your reply and I agree with you in general regarding posting too many details and so it is a balancing act to post sufficient information to get some people thinking and at the same time not make it too easy for would be thieves to steal photos. To hopefully allay your concerns the information I posted is basically "Online Photos Security 101" and is currently available and discussed on a gazillion web pages on the Internet. My post means there is now a gazillion and one web pages discussing the vulnerabilities of online images. If you haven't already done so and if you have a spare couple of minutes please have a read of the web page at the link I posted earlier and you will see the same information I discussed plus some common methods that can be used to reduce online image vulnerability. The linked web page is very typical of the "gazillion" web pages already on the Internet discussing this topic. Hopefully this alleviates some of your concerns and provides food for thought to anyone concerned about their online images on this web site or any other web site they post images on. |
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Squirrel2014
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Where's that cup of tea ... ???
Posts: 685
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by Squirrel2014 on Jul 15, 2015 23:51:08 GMT
Hi fstop
I appreciate what you are saying but I still feel, quite strongly, that the last sentence of para 3 and all of para 4 is totally unnecessary and makes it so much easier for someone to learn how to get around this.
Yes, there may be a load of other web pages on the internet, just like there are loads of web pages, I would think, from how to make a bomb to how to commit various crimes and get away with it to how to self-harm but does that mean it's OK to have it on yet another web site, ie here? I don't consider that a valid arguement, personally.
Perhaps the Moderators and/or Administrators would consider the validity of my concerns?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2015 0:31:22 GMT
Hi again Julie. I understand the point you are making about the last sentence in para 3 and all of para 4. The reason I included that information is because I wanted to answer the obvious question that could be asked in reply to my comments "Ok, no problem. That is extremely easy to get around. " which is "Why is it extremely easy to get around?". The last sentence in para 3 and all of para 4 answer that question. Bear in mind though, if a would be thief sees a photo online they like and want to take and assuming their IQ is at least equal to or greater than my shoe size they will simply google something like "how steal online photos" and they will get all the information they need. I doubt very much they will be coming to this thread and my post to get the information they need. Imo that is just stating the very obvious and a "no-brainer". The intention of this thread is to provide food for thought which involves providing some very basic and extremely easily available information already on the Internet. This thread is not a "How to.....". But if the mod's. want to edit this thread that is ok by me as this is just one of a few web sites I post on. Like many other people concerned about Internet security, I have posted my "food for thought" on other web sites. |
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Post by davehagg on Jul 16, 2015 1:27:35 GMT
I don't post any images on the internet or photo groups that I would be concerned about someone grabbing them to use or repost for whatever purpose. I scan P-Base often to look at pics, mostly for composition, subject matter and editing ideas and I find a site like that as being very venerable to people stealing personal pics. If I post to groups like ours and topaz I really don't care if someone takes one of my pics to play with to use different techniques and even repost. I found f-stops post as a reminder to how easy it is to steal a pic as I hope others will. I did learn something new about Java Script. I also understand Julies concern about giving instructions, but I found it as more of an information post.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2015 2:39:17 GMT
Hi Dave. I'm a bit like you. I also don't post any photos online that I wouldn't want anyone to steal. On the rare occassions I post an image it's for something like educational/demonstration purposes or for just a bit of fun in a " fun competition/activity". I don't care what happens to those photos. I'm glad you found this thread as a useful reminder and that you learnt something new about JavaScript. In addition to my original post, whenever I see the right-click disabled on a web-page my curiosity gets the better of me and I try to find out if the web page author really knows what they are doing. Since getting around the disabled right-click is so easy, no self respecting web site developer will bother wasting time disabling it. The right-click context menu usually contains many other legitimate options which legitimate users would like to often use when visiting a web page. All disabling the right-click function does is alienate the 99.9% of legitimate visitors to a web page and does nothing at all to prevent an image being taken if someone really wants it. Alienating the visitors to a client's web site is not the role of a web site developer - well, not a good one anyway  Imo, disabling the right-click on a web page is a flag suggesting that possibly the security "protecting" the images is likely to be very weak. Having said all of the above, I am sure most of the members posting images here are aware that their images are highly vulnerable to being stolen but I also suspect some might need a reminder |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2015 5:51:49 GMT
. . However, I'm not sure giving detailed instructions, or even the idea of what to research for, is such a good idea. Personally, I wouldn't have given Javascript a thought as to how to over-ride a disabled Right click but now that you've mentioned it, it only took me a couple of minutes (if that) to find out how to do that. In my opinion, I would like to see these details etc removed from the post. Lack of instructions as to what to do etc won't detract from the worthwhile essence of what is being suggested. Julie One last attempt to alleviate any concerns you still might have You mention it took you a couple minutes (max.) to follow the information I gave on how to get around a right-click disabled image. Let's consider this scenario: Someone stumbles across an online image and thinks "Gee, that looks nice. I'd like to have a copy of that." The person then right clicks the image and gets a message saying that right-click is disabled on the image. The person then thinks, "But that image is really nice and I reeeaaally want a copy of it. How can I get it?....I know,,,I'll search Google to find a way." Now let's assume this person is of at least just below average intelligence. The person will quickly come up with a search string something like "how to get around right click disable", enter it into Google and then......voila!!!.....truck loads and truck loads of information on how images can be stolen from the Internet and how NOT to protect images. All of the above will take the person the same amount of time to do get around the right-click disable as you did because you don't have to have any knowledge of web programming to do it. It's all done quickly and simply by changing the appropriate browser configuration setting as described earlier. So the information I provided will not make it any easier for a would-be thief to take images from the Internet. |
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Post by Major Major on Jul 16, 2015 22:35:22 GMT
The admin/mod team is aware that one of our members has raised a concern with some of the information provided in this thread.
While the information shared might be construed as an invitation to cause trouble, it can also be seen as a significant warning concerning the security involved with posting images on the internet.
We feel that it is important that our members see our forum as a collaborative effort where differing points of view can be shared, as long as it is done in a respectful and considerate way.
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