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February 09, 2012, 08:19:06 PM

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Author Topic: Stealing graphics linked to my website -- how do I stop it?  (Read 1738 times)
sdilan77
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« on: March 17, 2010, 07:11:52 AM »
Every once in a while we find that another website has decided to "borrow" a .jpg from our website, which causes their site to be linked to our statistics.  This means that, every time someone visits their site, it counts on our Webalizer stats as a hit on that graphic.

We have renamed the graphics so that they don't have a searchable name (like "new" -- big mistake!).  However, all they have to do is go back to the website using the broken link and borrow the graphic under the new name again.

Has anyone out there found a way to keep this from happening?

Thanks,
S. Dilan
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Nils
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« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2010, 10:18:50 AM »
Are you using CPanel?
If so go to CPanel and choose HotLink Protection.
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sdilan77
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« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2010, 12:01:58 PM »
It looks like that will fix the problem, but it doesn't exactly have step-by-steps.   Confused   Right now it is disabled.

1.  URLs to allow access; it has our two domains listed
2.  Extensions to allow:  jpg,jpeg,gif,png,bmp
3.  "URL to direct to" is blank.
4.  "Allow direct requests" is not checked.

I understand the first two, but am not sure what the second two do. do I need to modify them before checking "Enable."?

Susan
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bryantrv
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« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2010, 01:57:31 PM »
I believe "URL to direct to" is to redirect a hot link to another url- like a jpg saying "don't stela my bandwidth" or something.
Allow direct requests would be to allow someone to go directly to the image url rather than linking to it- like if I put a link to an image and embeded it in this forum, we would see the "URL to direct to", but if I just put a link that you had to click, you could.
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MrPhil
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« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2010, 04:16:33 PM »
In .htaccess, define it manually:
Code:
#-- hotlink protection. must have already done a RewriteEngine On line
#-- following is 'whitelist' of domains allowed to use the graphics
#-- don't forget to add https: for any with SSL. don't forget subdomains
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mydomain1\.com(/)?.*$     [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?mydomain2\.com(/)?.*$      [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?someother\.org(/)?.*$   [NC]
#-- uncomment following line to PERMIT direct browser access of image files
##RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ 
#-- select one action to take when an image is requested by a non-whitelisted domain
#-- expand the list of filetypes (extensions) to include other types, if you wish
#-- first option is to simply fail the request
RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ - [F,NC]
#-- second option is to put up a nasty message image
##RewriteRule .*\.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|bmp)$ http://mydomain.com/nastymessage.gif  [NC]

Don't forget that hotlinking is not the only way to grab an image. It merely steals your bandwidth in addition to stealing your property. There are lots of ways to steal an image. Put your copyright statement in an image file, if it includes a place for text. "Watermark" larger images (using an image editor such as GIMP or Photoshop), such as a product picture or a piece of artwork, so that if it's stolen everyone can see what site or business it came from.
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sdilan77
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« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2010, 06:10:11 AM »
Thanks!   Our main concern was both the stealing of our broadband, and the fact that more than one adult site had borrowed a "New!" graphic (most likely, one took it and the others took it from them....) Looks kind of weird when your stats show a few hundred hits and one graphic shows several thousand Yikes
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Regrets are memories of lost opportunities.  Live your life with no regrets. --S. Dilán
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