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i'm running a niche website for a very conservative group and one request they have is that we need to make it as difficult as possible for users to save images of other users. i know there is no way to satisfy this requirement 100% but at least i can make it difficult for people to save images off the site.

The only thing i've done so far is disable right-clicking on images (via jquery), I've also put in blocks for hotlinking. Is there anything I could do towards this requirement ?

thanks in advance.

Peter G.
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Sherif Buzz
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    They do realize that in order for an image to be displayed, it has to be downloaded to the user's computer - right? :) – Justin Ethier Oct 16 '10 at 15:50
  • no, the average internet user does not know this. – Sherif Buzz Oct 16 '10 at 16:10
  • Construct the image using HTML5 canvas drawing. Then your potential image thieves would have to screenshot it. :) http://thinkvitamin.com/code/how-to-draw-with-html-5-canvas/ – bzlm Oct 16 '10 at 16:13
  • @bzlm Firefox -> Right click on canvas -> Save Image As. – Ivo Wetzel Oct 16 '10 at 16:15
  • @Ivo Yeah, but then they'd also need a time machine and go back to when anyone still used Firefox. – bzlm Oct 16 '10 at 16:16
  • upload all images in a private folder and specify a password in .htaccess, distribute this password to conservative group and give the responsibility to them to distribute that password. – berkay Oct 16 '10 at 17:05

4 Answers4

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You cannot disable copying/saved since people could view your source which would lead onto the image directory. Also users can be able to simply print screen your website, therefore saving your image. If you do not want users to save your images, then don't add it online.

MacMac
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You can't. I think people that can save the image without right click won't be bothered by anything further.

William Briand
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This is evil, but you can keep clearing the clipboard

http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21431

Might make the computer unusable while they are on the page.

Another idea is to put meta-data or water-marking on the image that identifies which user took the copy. Then if you find the image in the wild, you can figure out who did it. If there's a Terms of Service that restricts copying, you will know who to complain to.

Lou Franco
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You could make it even harder if you create a flash file and display the image in the flash. If you want to display the image as it is, with a plain img-tag then the comment made by Justin states the paradox of not downloading the image and displaying it at the same time.

Patrick
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