Protecting My Work

[queenpictoria 0]

Greetings!

 

If someone looks at the source page of my work, they can, of course,

see all my links.

 

Someone has expressed interest in some of my backgrounds, and, of course,

he wants it cheap. My backgrounds are not for sale.

 

So now I realize there will be people who'll try to use my work without me

knowing it. If they have my link code they can pull any background off my domain site.

 

Is there a way I can protect my work?

 

Is there a way to find my background on someone else's site?

 

I know there will be something happen sooner or later. Life can be unfair.

 

It's not like I'm in such demand. I just don't like the idea that someone could

use my hard work for their own purposes.

 

Any suggestions?

 

queenpictoria

 

Thanks for your attention on my behalf.

[abinidi 1]

April,

 

Basically anything you post to your website is going to be downloadable since it is viewable, and viewing content on the web is only possible because the content is downloaded individual user's machines.

 

So there is no foolproof way to protect your intellectual property.

 

What can you do?

 

1. Turn on hotlink protection. In cPanel you can turn on hotlink protection so if somebody wants your images, they have to download them to their own comptuer and then upload them to their own web space. This prevents users from "stealing" your bandwith. But users can still download your images.

 

2. Use a CSS style sheet. You can hide your images in a CSS style sheet, and then users will have to go through one more step to find them; the filenames won't be displayed in the "View Source" results for a webpage. Of course, users can still open the css file and find the image sources. But it adds another step.

 

3. Google your image filenames to see if somebody is using your content. If somebody has downloaded your images and reposted them, you might find them if they haven't renamed the files. Do a web search on the image's filename. If you find somebody who is using your images, you can attempt to initiate some leagal action against them. However, if a user is smart, when they steal your image, they will rename it so you won't find it easily. But you might catch a dumb crook that way.

 

In the end, there isn't a whole lot you can do. We hope people will act responsibly, but not everybody will. That is just part of being a member of the online community.

 

One one hand, you want people to find you easily, but you don't want dishonest web designers from finding you easiliy. You can't have it both ways!

 

Best wishes, and good luck.

[Samrc 0]

Bookmark a site called Copyscape http://www.copyscape.com/. It will help you search for similar content on another site. I know it works for text and it might also identify images.

 

It is true that anything you place on your site has the potential to be taken. Even basic photo programs can do a capture of your web page images.