protecting copyright 167

That WWW page contains javascript to redefine the behaviour of the right mouse click (which normally gives you the menu to allow you to save the picture) to instead display the message you saw.

However, there are at least 3 ways to obtain a photo from that site using normal IE.

1. Hover the mouse over the photo until your image tool bar appears, then save. 2. Use a screen capture program. 3. View the source of the WWW page and find the URL for the image and simply type it into your browser. Then save as normal.

There is no good technical solution to prevent people from copying material from WWW sites. You can do some tricks (like disabling right mouse click etc or using PDF) to make it a bit difficult for a few people, but ultimately whatever is displayed on the screen can be captured with a screen capture program. So the only thing you can do is provide such a small or damaged image that nobody would want to copy it anyway, and if that's the case, why bother with the photo at all?

Nor is there any realistic legal solution. Yes, we have copyright laws, but can you really afford to sue someone over copying a photo which has caused you almost no economic loss (unless you were a professional photographer)?

My husband and I (both IT professionals) have thousands of headstone photos from cemeteries around Brisbane on our WWW site.

We put them up on the WWW to share them with other genealogists. We don't take any technical steps to protect our photos (because we know there is no solution). We simply state what copying is acceptable to us (personal use of individual photos buttociated with your family and please acknowledge us if you republish) and what is unacceptable to us (copying of whole collections and commercial purposes) and hope people Do The Right Thing.

If you put a photo (or text) onto the WWW, then it can be copied. If that really bothers you, don't put it on the WWW.

Kerry