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Protect digital photos online
By Stephen Murphy
Though far from perfect, there are a few things you can do to help stop others from unauthorized use of your photos.
Image resolution, size and quality
Keep the resolution, size, and quality of your photographs to a minimum. Never post full resolution, full sized images. Doing so is equivalent to giving away the digital negative and might prevent you from proving that the image is yours should an ownership conflict arise down the road.
Watermarking a digital photo
Placing a watermark on your photographs is a very effective way to protect your images online. Watermarking photographs, in addition to placement of copyright notice, makes it more difficult for someone to alter and use your photograph without your permission.
You can use any number of photo editing software to create watermarks. Also, there are several watermarking programs available
Disable right-click
Although not a foolproof method, disabling right-click on a web page will make it a little more difficult for others to acquire your images, especially the less computer savvy.
Transparent GIF
This technique involves placing a transparent GIF layer directly over the image. When the user right-clicks on the image, they can only directly save the transparent GIF file, not the underlying image. Again this method is not foolproof, but anything to make it more difficult is better than doing nothing.
Flash/Java applets
Both Flash and Java applets present another way to prevent the easy theft of your images. Although the Flash file is downloaded to the user's computer, only a skilled Flash user will know how to extract the individual graphics. Thus, using Flash or Java applets will only prevent more novice users from stealing your images.
If you do decide to use this method, use Flash instead of Java applets because it will download and display faster.
©2007 Stephen Murphy All rights reserved
Disclaimer: Content in this article is informational only. For complete, accurate and up-to-date information, or if you seek legal advice, contact an attorney.
