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JavaScript Image Copyright Protection
by Jerry West
Updated January 21, 2007
There is a major problem on the Internet
with people going to sites, hijacking the images and
using them on their own site. I've had it happen to
me.
One experience I had was with a graphics
artist who I hired under contract to create some custom
text graphics for a client. Months later, I was contacted
by an angry web site owner who stated I was using her
graphics without permission. The graphic artist I hired
went out an ripped off images instead of creating them.
You can never be too careful.
There are ways to prevent your images
from being stolen, the first is a simple JavaScript
as outlined below:
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
//script to protect images from theft
function click()
{if (event.button==2)
{
alert('All images are protected by Copyright. Do not
use without permission.')
}
}document.onmousedown=click
// --></script>
How It Works
 To
the left is an image. Right-click (or alternate-click)
on the image. You will see the results of the JavaScript
code and what effect it will have on your pages if you
use this.
We inserted the above code into the
<head> section of this HTML page. We made one
modification - we added our domain name as the owner
of the copyright to personalize it to our site. You
can modify it to your individual needs.
Will this give you absolute protection?
No. People who really want your graphics could use a
product like WebSnake to download your entire site INCLUDING
your graphics. Or, they could view your source code,
and find the direct path to the graphics.
For example, the source code for
the gaphic above looks like: <img src="../text/bottom-line.gif"
...> Note: code snipped. With a little checking,
it would be determined that the actual path to the gaphic
was:
http://www.webmarketingnow.com/text/bottom-line.gif
Going to that link takes you to the
graphic alone and it can be copied. However, the percentage
of people who know how to do the above are minimal.
Why did we tell you? Because the JavaScript is not fool-proof
and you should know how it can be exploited. But for
every ten people who attempt to steal your graphics,
this JavaScript should stop 9 of them.
Most often, hijackers who are searching
for graphics use a tool such as Google's
Image Search. When crawling the web, Google also
catalogs image files to be searched.
You can stop Google from crawling
your image files by using a Robots.txt file and excluding
Google from your image directory.
If you do fall victim to graphic
theft, your first course of action is to request that
the owner remove the graphics. The worse case senerio
is that you get your attorney involved - and that is
never fun.
------
� 2000 - 2007, WebMarketingNow.com
Jerry West is the Director of Internet Marketing for
WebMarketingNow. He has been consulting on the web since
1996 and has assisted hundreds of companies gain an
upper-hand over their competition. Visit Web
Marketing Now for the latest in marketing tips that
are tested and proven.
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Article Search Phrases: Image Protection,
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