looking for protection

[oxfire]

my site is built in php. i'm looking for some kind of protection so these "website grabbers" cant get a hold of my site. is there anything like this available??

[james438]

website grabber? are you talking about stealing the layout of your site that you created? There is nothing that I can think of out there. Anyway php is server based so only you can see it or someone else with the passwords to your site.

[Master_script_maker]

you could always use .htaccess

[TimFA]

website grabber? are you talking about stealing the layout of your site that you created? There is nothing that I can think of out there. Anyway php is server based so only you can see it or someone else with the passwords to your site.


you could always use .htaccess

I've seen some sites that use (I think PHP) a server-side to monitor how often you access pages and lock you out if its too often. Since website grabbers (if they are automated) rarely go very slow you can sometimes catch them with it. Your visitors may suffer if it mistakes them for one though. Something to think about.

Tim

[djr33]

That's like saying you want to write a newspaper then lock it in your closet.
Websites are meant to be read, and people will read them. yes, someone might try to steal part of a page or something, but that's just how the web works-- your recourse is to sue them, if it really is that important, or just not put it on the web in the first place.
If I was one of these "website grabbers", whatever that means, I'd only need to load your page at most twice to "grab" it-- once to see it and analyze it manually, then another time to do so in an automated way and actually "grab" it. And if it was entirely automated or I saved a local copy on the first viewing, only once.

Now, you CAN limit a page being loaded too many times within a certain timeframe, perhaps to stop overtaxing your host, but that's a separate issue and not necessarily related to "grabbing" it. You can also look at the bots.txt (I think that's the file) options, which can specify what automated programs should do, like search engine spiders, but a "bad bot" would ignore that anyway.

The only way to stop bots and allow people, that is at all successful is a CAPTCHA-- one of those number/letter pictures you need to type, which, if all goes well, bots can't read.

[Leafy]

djr33 is right. If you are so paranoid about someone "grabbing" your layout, then you have a few, but very limited, options:


Mandate users to have an account before they can read your site
Watermark your design
Talk to the ISP of the person hosting the "grabbed" content


If you mandate your users to have an account, the likelihood of them signing up to read your articles slims, especially if you have a large registration form.

If you watermark your images, you can tell if they stole it without them noticing. This does not protect you from them stealing the layout in the first place, however.

If you talk to their ISP, you can get their site shut down if you send them a DMCA takedown letter. The only catch here is that if they aren't copying your layout exactly, including the content, you won't be able to do this legally. In order for you to be able to do this, they must be actively causing brand confusion between you and them; layout isn't enough. Think of how many wordpress blogs there are.

Any way you look at it, a determined "grabber" can and will get your layout. That's just how the web works.

[TimFA]

To correct what I meant, djr, I was saying that if they were accessing multiple pages such as all the pages from one page quickly (like all at a time) THEN it is determined not by how many times they load one page.

[djr33]

Oh, ok, a buffer then. hmmm... it's possible, if still possibly limiting for a legitimate purpose.