I would like to post some pictures online, but I don’t want anyone to copy them. How can I protect them from being stolen?
There is only one answer to this question, and it is a short one:
It cannot be done
Any method designed to stop visitors from downloading images can be circumvented by a person with the right set technical skills.
Once you understand and accept the fact that you cannot stop people from copying your images online, you still might want to try and slow them down. This article covers a few different roadblocks you can place between your images and their audience.
Technical Roadblocks
Webmasters wanting to prevent visitors from downloading their images often employ two different tactics: disabling the ability to right-click, and overlaying the image with a transparency. Both methods attempt to prevent visitors from right-clicking on your images in order to save them.
Right-clicking your mouse button (or CTRL-clicking on a Mac) brings up a context menu containing a few options that apply to whatever element you have right-clicked on. One of these options is “save as”, and allows you to save any right-clicked image. There are many different JavaScripts that attempt to disable right clicking. These scripts work to an extent — any visitor savvy enough to disable JavaScript in their web browser can circumvent this method.
Webmasters may also overlay their images with a second, transparent graphic in order to stop visitors from downloading the original. The visitor intends to right-click on the image they see, but in reality they are right-clicking on the transparent image placed over it. Some visitors may be confused when they realize they have downloaded an invisible image, but others will persist. The overlay method can be defeated by taking a screenshot and then cutting out the desired image with Paint, PhotoShop, or another photo editing program.
Aesthetic Roadblocks
Image owners who do not have the technical knowledge or necessary control to employ these technical roadblocks often resort to aesthetic roadblocks – using visual elements to discourage visitors from saving their images. Two widespread aesthetic roadblocks are the use of watermarks, and the use of low-quality images.
A watermark is a visual element added to an image that discourages reuse in a number of ways. A watermark may display a copyright notice, the name of the photo’s owner, or the address of a site where non-watermarked versions can be purchased. The prominence of a watermark is up to the image owner — some watermarks are visible yet inconspicuous, while others are large and noticeable. Watermarks can be effective, but there is no guarantee that a skilled graphic designer cannot remove it.
Image owners who are not fond of watermarks but still want to discourage reuse often limit the images they post online to only low-quality versions. This is typical of photographers who want to enforce their copyright, but do not want to detract from the integrity of their photos with watermarks. Low-quality versions are meant to be good enough to admire with the naked eye, but unusable when blown up to print size. Once again, photo editing software such as PhotoShop may be used to downgrade image quality.
To keep images safe, keep them offline
Once a picture, photo, or any other type of images is placed online, there is no absolute way to protect it from being copied, modified, and redistributed. You can hinder web surfers from downloading your images, but you cannot stop them. You can label your images as copyrighted, but you cannot force people to respect that copyright without taking legal action. The web is a public forum — do not put anything online that you would not like to see on the front page of the newspaper.
