protect images on webpage from being copied/saved ?

Question

Hi all, 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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.