# Can I prevent someone from copying an image from a website? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190 "2009-10-26T16:00:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/1 "2009-10-26T16:00:43Z")
My educated guess is no. I know it’s possible to disable right click save as on a website, and there are other tricks to obfuscate the image, but what about the print screen button? Or digging into the source? Is there a full proof way? Or, once the image is sent to the browser, is it always accessible to the user? ---
**Author:** ![pan1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@pan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pan1)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/2 "2009-10-26T16:08:27Z")
Disabling “save as” is not too hard to do in most scripting languages. But, There is no fool proof way. Fools are notorious for finding simple solutions to complex deterrents. In the end, there is almost always the Print Screen option. A good digitial watermark can protect your intellecutal property to some extent. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/3 "2009-10-26T16:08:49Z")
Nope. If someone can see it in a normal browser, the image is probably already on their hard drive with no clicking required. And even then, you can only detect clicks if JavaScript is enabled. You could use a custom built browser or plug-in that can display an encrypted file without saving it, but you’re still at the mercy of a screen capture and even a video overlay could be intercepted between the video card and monitor. Your best bet is to slap a watermark on the image and/or only provide a crappy resolution version. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/4 "2009-10-26T16:11:41Z")
Watermarking is the generally used solution something like [this](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.graphicsfactory.com/clip-art/image_files/image/9/1307519-Anml009.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.graphicsfactory.com/Clip_Art/Animals/Anml009_129078.html&usg=__5KZ4Jeb0F1NOSz9hoioS7f8A7Y4=&h=300&w=300&sz=14&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=68DhaNiNHHfPUM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcartoon%2Brabbit%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) You can use flash to make it slightly harder but print-screen will always work. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/5 "2009-10-26T16:16:08Z")
Ultimately you need to accept that if you let someone see the image, they can copy it. You can make it slightly more inconvenient by doing things like disabling right click, but you really have very little control over the client software used to pull down your image. No doubt there exist applications whose sole purpose is to archive your website and all its image files. Even without that it would not be hard to write a simple application to do an HTTP GET or POST to get your image and do whatever it likes with the image data returned. By the way, please don’t do things like disable right click or other browser interface manipulations. It is extremely aggravating to many users and will not solve your problem anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/6 "2009-10-26T16:16:37Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Watermarking is the generally used solution something like [this](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.graphicsfactory.com/clip-art/image_files/image/9/1307519-Anml009.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.graphicsfactory.com/Clip_Art/Animals/Anml009_129078.html&usg=__5KZ4Jeb0F1NOSz9hoioS7f8A7Y4=&h=300&w=300&sz=14&hl=en&start=12&tbnid=68DhaNiNHHfPUM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcartoon%2Brabbit%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official) > > You can use flash to make it slightly harder but print-screen will always work. That’s a pretty amusing example to use because if someone was really hell-bent on using that image of the rabbit, they could remove the watermark pretty easily with Photoshop since it’s just a simple line drawing. Obviously removing the watermark from a really detailed image would be a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/7 "2009-10-26T16:38:51Z")
I figured as much. My idea was to put the pictures ina flash or Silverlight app that captures the print screen key and shows a black frame while it is pressed. Combined with Javascript to return focus to the app if the suer clicks elsewhere on the webpage it should prevent screen grabs on most browsers. That is until the user clicks outside the browser. Any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/8 "2009-10-26T16:45:16Z")
How about instead of displaying the image in flash, you display a looping movie of the image? Since it’s being directly inserted into the overlay, they shouldn’t be able to grab it with print screen at all. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/9 "2009-10-26T16:49:06Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I figured as much. > > My idea was to put the pictures ina flash or Silverlight app that captures the print screen key and shows a black frame while it is pressed. Combined with Javascript to return focus to the app if the suer clicks elsewhere on the webpage it should prevent screen grabs on most browsers. That is until the user clicks outside the browser. > > Any other ideas? Sounds to me like a classic example of something that is going to be really irritate you legitimate customer base, but do absolutely bugger all to stop anyone who really wants to copy your image. I’d say the watermark is both the least irritating, and most effective solution. What image people want to post on their website is their business, so I’d have no problem with them adding a watermark if they want to, hijacking the behavior of my browser on the other hand would be a good reason for me to close the page and never return. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/10 "2009-10-26T16:56:14Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > My idea was to put the pictures ina flash or Silverlight app that captures the print screen key and shows a black frame while it is pressed. Combined with Javascript to return focus to the app if the suer clicks elsewhere on the webpage it should prevent screen grabs on most browsers. That is until the user clicks outside the browser. Are you trying to actually stop _anyone_ from copying your image, or stop most unsophisticated users from doing so? The former is simply impossible. What you’ve posted above is pretty good for the latter, but I can think of several ways to get around it. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/11 "2009-10-26T17:00:01Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > How about instead of displaying the image in flash, you display a looping movie of the image? Since it’s being directly inserted into the overlay, they shouldn’t be able to grab it with print screen at all. That doesn’t work with flash at least. Hmm I just realized that as a web app I might not have access to the print screen key to capture it… hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/12 "2009-10-26T17:02:30Z")
We’re not really concerned about having visitors up ont he site again. It’s about keeping control of the images as they are only to be shown to a small number of select people. I agree that this requirement that they cannot be screen grabbed seems hopelessly impossible… ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/13 "2009-10-26T17:14:14Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > We’re not really concerned about having visitors up ont he site again. It’s about keeping control of the images as they are only to be shown to a small number of select people. I agree that this requirement that they cannot be screen grabbed seems hopelessly impossible… Is this a confidentiality issue? A use issue? Watermarking usually takes care of the latter (i.e., for stock photo sites). As for confidentiality, you could also use a watermark, I believe–you should be able to use something like [Digimarc](https://www.digimarc.com/solutions/images.asp), which embeds a very subtle (near invisible) watermark, which allows you to track it. So if it leaks, you can find out exactly WHICH user leaked it. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/14 "2009-10-26T17:15:22Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > We’re not really concerned about having visitors up ont he site again. It’s about keeping control of the images as they are only to be shown to a small number of select people. I agree that this requirement that they cannot be screen grabbed seems hopelessly impossible… In which case you can use the solution I’ve seen on movie scripts. Where the watermark contains the name of the authorized person who has access to it, that way they have a very good reason to make sure no one makes unauthorized copies. In your case you could add the the IP address and email/username (and make sure you terms of use makes clear they are liable for unauthorized copies from their account). ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/15 "2009-10-26T17:40:04Z")
Even if you disable right-click, the process is not too difficult to get around. I used to run into this problem too, until I realize you could hold right click off screen, move it on top of the image, unclick the right button, and the normal right-click menu will pop up and you can save the picture. > [@Palooka](#): > > How about instead of displaying the image in flash, you display a looping movie of the image? Since it’s being directly inserted into the overlay, they shouldn’t be able to grab it with print screen at all. That might disable the button but there are lots of imagers that can capture things even with such a feature, isn’t there? I used to play an MMO that wouldn’t allow you to screen capture but it seemed like everyone had this software. People were taking pictures with impunity ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/16 "2009-10-26T18:15:06Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > We’re not really concerned about having visitors up ont he site again. It’s about keeping control of the images as they are only to be shown to a small number of select people. I agree that this requirement that they cannot be screen grabbed seems hopelessly impossible… On your website, post “Meeting in Conference Room Z in Hotel Y. 0900. Be there.” Scan everyone for cameras and phones, then display the image on a powerpoint. Sorry, technologically, what you want is infeasible given the current state of OSes and browser software. Even if all else works, you cannot stop a dedicated copier with high-tech tools like “el cheapo digital camera”. Your best bet is enforcing copyright or a non-disclosure agreement after the fact. * * * But while we’re talking about silly workarounds, one more to throw in the mix might be to use persistence-of-vision effects to rapidly cycle through different parts of the image at random so that it seems semi-consistent to the human eye while showing screen captures (which only take one frame in time) a useless portion. Then randomly toggle Flash and Java popups in millisecond intervals so the screen capture software will have more problems getting focus. Then slowly bounce your image around the screen, kinda like a screensaver, so that only a fullscreen capture can get the whole thing. Then run a few processor-intensive infinite loops in the background so the computer will be too slow to perform a movie capture. Then occasionally strobe the screen to pure black and then pure white to screw with digital cameras’ auto exposures. Then embed subtle moire patterns that will give you a screen-door effect on anything except your natural resolution, so that cameras that are an inch too close or too far might just interlace so much as to make the image unusable. Then add a screamer at the end so your users will piss their pants and ruin their electronics, securing your message until their next paycheck. If you still experience copies after stopping the all casuals, epileptics, faint-hearted, lazy, and poor, putting out an ad in Soldier of Fortune will typically solve your problem. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/17 "2009-10-26T18:17:24Z")
Don’t forget to add a workaround for somebody trying to take a picture of their monitor with a digital camera. For that, I think you’re going to want something like an opaque black overlay over your image at all times. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/18 "2009-10-26T18:19:39Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > By the way, please don’t do things like disable right click or other browser interface manipulations. It is extremely aggravating to many users and will not solve your problem anyway. agree on that. people that disable right click in the hopes of protecting themselves only make the website harder to use. i use a tabbed browser and using tabs is an effective and organized way to use a website. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/19 "2009-10-26T18:33:23Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > On your website, post “Meeting in Conference Room Z in Hotel Y. 0900. Be there.” > > Scan everyone for cameras and phones, then display the image on a powerpoint. > > Sorry, technologically, what you want is infeasible given the current state of OSes and browser software. Even if all else works, you cannot stop a dedicated copier with high-tech tools like “el cheapo digital camera”. Your best bet is enforcing copyright or a non-disclosure agreement after the fact. > > * * * > > But while we’re talking about silly workarounds, one more to throw in the mix might be to use persistence-of-vision effects to rapidly cycle through different parts of the image at random so that it seems semi-consistent to the human eye while showing screen captures (which only take one frame in time) a useless portion. Then randomly toggle Flash and Java popups in millisecond intervals so the screen capture software will have more problems getting focus. Then slowly bounce your image around the screen, kinda like a screensaver, so that only a fullscreen capture can get the whole thing. Then run a few processor-intensive infinite loops in the background so the computer will be too slow to perform a movie capture. Then occasionally strobe the screen to pure black and then pure white to screw with digital cameras’ auto exposures. Then embed subtle moire patterns that will give you a screen-door effect on anything except your natural resolution, so that cameras that are an inch too close or too far might just interlace so much as to make the image unusable. Then add a screamer at the end so your users will piss their pants and ruin their electronics, securing your message until their next paycheck. > > If you still experience copies after stopping the all casuals, epileptics, faint-hearted, lazy, and poor, putting out an ad in Soldier of Fortune will typically solve your problem. You sir, win the thread. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-prevent-someone-from-copying-an-image-from-a-website/515190/20 "2009-10-26T22:11:25Z")
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