Photo and bandwidth stealing

G

greenfreak

New Member
I found someone linking directly to one of my photos on my site, conveniently removing the copyright information I put on it.

So I decided to have a little fun with it. This is what her website looks like now:

http://h-213.61.5.152.host.de.colt.net/homepages/mainfranken-chat.de/hp/133/[email protected]

I was going to put it in German but the translators I found didn't properly translate.

Taking photos and displaying them without copyright info, or asking permission for that matter, is something common on the web. This I know, and there's nothing I can do about it, short of putting a big watermark right in the middle of the picture or not posting them at all.

But stealing bandwidth could put me over my monthly limit, so I put a stop to this as soon as I find it happening.

People who don't publish their work on the web don't really care all that much. It's like downloading music, they think it's no big deal. I guess it's only a big deal to the people who put effort, time and money into their work only to have someone else take it from them for their own reasons.

All I wanted in return for posting my free custom wallpaper was that the copyright info be left on it and a comment on my blog. I didn't think that was asking so much.
 
LMAO.

btw, why don't you put some anti-direct linking protection on your site?, I'm sure your host can help you with that.
 
I frequently hot link but I never remove identifiable info. It's just simpler to link than to save as... & then re-upload. You should put a watermark on all your intellectual property, as a matter of course.
 
I was just reading about the hotlinking in my control panel and it's a little confusing. I'm also wondering if that would affect people finding my images through a search. I get a ton of referrals from search engines, I wouldn't want to change that.

It sounds like I can redirect direct links to a main site, like my homepage. This language is just weird though:

HotLink protection prevents other websites from directly linking to files (as specified below) on your website. Other sites will still be able to link to any file type that you don't specify below (ie. html files). An example of hotlinking would be using a <img> tag to display an image from your site from somewhere else on the net. The end result is that the other site is stealing your bandwidth. You should ensure that all sites that you wish to allow direct links from are in the list below. This system attempts add all sites it knows you own to the list, however you may need to add others.
Click to expand...
Then there's a box underneath that says "Extensions to allow (seperate by commas):" and in the box is jpg,jpeg,gif,png,bmp.

Underneath that, it says "Url to Redirect to:" and it's blank.

So... If I only put, say www.otcentral.com in the list and then leave everything else alone, I would still be able to hotlink in my own posts to a jpg on my site. But if I put the "Url to Redirect to:" as www.greenfreak.net and if it's a hotlink from anywhere else besides OTC, if they click on a hotlink, they will be redirected to my homepage?

I should just try this out. There are a bunch of sites that I routinely hotlink from. This one, my gardening website, etc. I want to still be able to do that.
 
Gonz said:
I frequently hot link but I never remove identifiable info. It's just simpler to link than to save as... & then re-upload. You should put a watermark on all your intellectual property, as a matter of course.
Click to expand...
Gonz, I was thinking of putting a watermark in the middle, I just hate the way that looks. I want a happy medium of people being able to enjoy what I do but still get credit where credit is due. I'm thinking of putting a border around all my photos with my copyright info on it. It won't stop someone from PS'ing it out but most people don't take the time to do that.

This used to be just a hobby but I'm getting offers to purchase my photos so it's starting to become more of a business. Which means I'm starting to care more about people who reproduce my stuff elsewhere.

Here's a test of hotlinking, I just enabled it and didn't put OTC in the list...

osprey_flying5.jpg
 
Cool. It works. I have to disable it for now though, until I get the list of all the places that are allowed to hotlink.


And if I don't allow that kid to hotlink, she won't get my message. I can't have that. I've been emailing another photographer that she took a photo from too. And I sent out a bunch of emails the the others for the other pictures. :D
 
I have no clue as to how to do it but I understand that there is a way to watermark, leaving the original alone but any subsequent copy or link would be affected. If there's money involved, it's worth it.
 
Gonz said:
I have no clue as to how to do it but I understand that there is a way to watermark, leaving the original alone but any subsequent copy or link would be affected. If there's money involved, it's worth it.
Click to expand...

It is most likely a mechanism that detects hot-linking and instead of directing to a webpage, it calls a script that creates a copy of the source image and puts in it a legend or whatever you choose.

It solves the problem partially because any user would still be able to use "save image as" and use it in their own server.
 
Yeah I really need to look into it. I'm part of a photography forum, I'm sure the subject must have been brought up before.

Winky said:
I'm so glad he got back to his owner!!!
Click to expand...
I was too, more now than I was then. I just don't have the time or money to care for a bird like that yet. He was very sweet though.
 
Our two cockatiels
one wouldn't think they'd have such personalities.
I could so see Tobey lifting his foot

"Pick me up"!
These two are inseparable
an old married couple


mid.JPG
 
I've always loved cockatiels. Yours are adorable. How long is the average lifespan? Can they be trained not to poop all over the place, and do they "scream" like parrots do when they're unhappy?

I wanted one as a kid when they were all the rage. Mom refused. She said if I could keep my fish alive for more than 6 months, we would talk about it. Of course, that never happened. :)
 
Found this for you, Trish. Using containers for your images.

http://underscorebleach.net/jotsheet/2004/11/stop-image-hotlinking-tutorial-htaccess-apache

includes copy/paste programming and full explanations :D

I used to know the best way to do a link-swap with photos on pages... I'll have to look it up in my notes. It does mean that you have to host two photos (One vibible and one not) and doesn't deal with bandwidth issues, but it does stop people from -linking a copyrighted image by sending your watermarked image instead of the non-watermarked one. You can keep the non-watermarked one on your page but [img]-linked ones get the watermark automatically.

Doesn't fix -
[list]
[*]bandwidth (unless you make your watermarked ones much smaller)
[*]Photoshop-hackers.
[/list]Let me know if I should look this up. PM is fine...better actually.
 
Lifespan? I'm not sure, it really depends on how they are taken care of and how much you luv em' I think.

They are said to live 15 to 20 plus years.
We've had Midget since he was a baby in 93
Lucky is about two years younger.

The Wife complains that they hold their poo
until she gets them out and they are on her, heh.

everthang poops, ya gotta wander after a dog
and I for one will never live in the same house
as a catbox.

The male will talk and sing in the mornings
and they do have their times when they become
overly vocal at which point I cover their cage and they
shut the hell up.

We've outlived two Dogs so far.
I keep saying I'm getting another when the Kid leaves
But the Wife sez no.
Betcha if I drag home a cute puppy after her child is gone
she will become so attached though....
 
I ask about the poo because I had a friend that had a huge bird, don't remember what kind of parrot it was... but she had trained him not to poop on people. He had an occasional accident, usually when she had him out of the house somewhere. But I never knew you could do that with birds.

20 years, wow. I'm sure a lot of people don't realize that when they get them.

I'm a dog person too, I'm allergic to cats anyway. Once we get our house, (maybe next year?) we'll be able to have the right environment for a dog.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top