Protecting content of page

[qubaby]

Hi all,

I am a newbee on dynamicdrive. I am desinging some web sites and I need be sure that all the texts and animations can not be grabbed. For text, there is a script as "disable text selection" and it really works. It doesnt let text selection anyhow while surfing but when you take look at source code of page you can easily copy them. I need something which can make my site hard to copy. Is there anybody who can offer something about it?

Thanks...

[Nile]

I don't think there is a way to do this.
If you put something on internet and its just so valuable to you, don't put in on the internet.

[jackbenimble4]

Nile is right. Depending on the scenario, it's likely that all this protection isn't needed. Instead you should focus on making it more usable for your users. Preventing users from selecting text isn't exactly making the browsing experience any more pleasant for them.

The fact is that if the visitors are capable of viewing the webpage, they're also capable of viewing the source.

If you're really desperate, I believe a completely flash website would be difficult to copy material off of.

[qubaby]

I understand guys what you mean, then could you explain me how these guys made it? Click the link below and after page loaded click H.D.D Rigs from the menu on the left bar.

http://www.prime-drilling.de/20070725/index_en.htm



There is something there with water motion. I don't know if it is swf, gif or something else. I can not see this on the source code or anywhere. No right click, no copy, no seen on source code...???

What do you think?

[djr33]

From what I can tell, that's Flash you are talking about. The main moving/animated portion of the screen is an embedded .swf. You can tell by right clicking and seeing that type of menu pop up, with options like "play", etc.
Flash is harder to copy from, but not impossible. For one thing, a screen capture will grab any image, you can simply type text out by hand, and you can actually just save the SWF itself anyway, then have that.

Also, there's no need to make your posts bold. I've removed the excess formatting.

[Krabat]

There is something there with water motion. I don't know if it is swf, gif or something else. I can not see this on the source code or anywhere. No right click, no copy, no seen on source code...???

What do you think?

The "water motion" effect is produced with a Java applet. Here's the code they embed it with:


<applet code="lake.class" height="480" width="500">
<param name="image" value="../images/raeumer.jpg">
<param name="speed" value="10">
<param name=href value="#">
</applet>

Now if you know the path of the HTML file the applet is embeded in (and in this case we do), you can just download the class and use it for your own purposes. So, as the people above correctly stated: If it's on the web, it can be copied. ;)

[qubaby]

I agree with you guys about "If it's on the web, It can be copied" but making it harder is in our hand, isn't it? by the way we can decrease the copies. On the other hand, most of the visitors are normal user not like you coders. Most of them even don't know what is source code.

I think, I will not satisfy unless be able to copy this picture on the site I have given previous comment.
Krabat, could you give me more details? How did you get this
Code:

<applet code="lake.class" height="480" width="500">
<param name="image" value="../images/raeumer.jpg">
<param name="speed" value="10">
<param name=href value="#">
</applet>

When I right click and choose "show source code" it doesn't appear like this. And also could you grab the picture and java?

[Krabat]

I think, I will not satisfy unless be able to copy this picture on the site I have given previous comment.
Krabat, could you give me more details? How did you get this
Code:

<applet code="lake.class" height="480" width="500">
<param name="image" value="../images/raeumer.jpg">
<param name="speed" value="10">
<param name=href value="#">
</applet>

When I right click and choose "show source code" it doesn't appear like this. And also could you grab the picture and java?

Well, you need to be carefull where you click when you want to view the source code of a page. The site you posted uses frames, so you'll either get the source of the frame you clicked or the source of the frameset. In Firefox, click right next to the image and select "current Frame" and then "Show Frame Source Code". (Or something to that effect) IE7 chooses the right source code, depending on where you click.

Concerning "grabbing" the image and applet: I could do it, but... In your first post you asked about protecting the things you put on the web from "theft", and now you want to "steal" something from someone else? That's a little odd. ;-)

[qubaby]

Thank you for your explanations... I got it.

And don't forget, the best security is required thinking like theives :) Honestly, at the first I tried to grab picture and failed but later started to think about protecting method can be more useful for me, If I could know. That's why I am asking how can you save it to your computer...

[djr33]

but making it harder is in our hand, isn't it?
Not really. You make it harder, yes. Ok, so that means you need to know something to steal it. So, you stop the users who don't know anything (average users who are probably just "stealing" your content so they can look at it later, at worst), and the knowledgable users, those who would actually be stealing in a damaging way anyway, still can do it.
Also, in theory there is no downside to making it a bit harder to steal stuff, but in practice this always makes the page's source bulky, sometimes reliant upon javascript flash etc, or it can cause random errors or instability.