Image security protection

[covoxer]

Yes but the screen grab would still have your flash watermark which you can't switch off as the main image is also in flash.

Ah! I've got it. Yes, it works this way to.

[BobInce]

My target was also to prevent the ordinary majority from using my work. Such people generally do not have such tools as XX nor the time and patience to mess around with images.

As I said, there are several easy ways to get around this sort of thing; you do not necessarily need any special tools. For example ‘File->Save page as...’ with images in the browser itself is the most basic and obvious.

“How can I stop my content being saved?” was a very common beginners' question on yesterday's web authoring mailing lists and forums. The answer arrived at then is just as relevant to Xtreme users today: You Simply Can't. You can go crazy making your life and your users' lives harder by all kinds of odd obfuscation tactics, but there are always simple ways around even for not-very-motivated would-be-thieves.

Look at the big commercial image sources, who've had years to come up with clever anti-theft methods and, having the most to lose monetarily from unauthorised copying, are infamously fierce in protecting their copyrights. Are they doing any of this? No. They just plop a watermark on and have done with it. That's the best you can do. Really.

[covoxer]

Bob, do you see any difference between "making copying impossible" and "making copying harder"?

[kinetica]

I have already given my opinions above. The goal of "impossible" is currently impossible. The goal of "harder" is certainly possible, but at what cost of time and/or effort? There is always a trade-off between what we can and want to achieve and what we are able to achieve within the bounds of practicality. And I personally don't believe that on a dynamic and vibrant website it is worth your while mucking about with all those convoluted methods unless your images have a real and tangible value, and at that point you should seriously consider whether you want to display them on your website because, come what may, if they are good and your website risks being popular, they will be stolen.