Image theft on the web is rampant, and protecting your art quilt pictures and images is a valid concern for all artists who publish pictures and images on their websites.

As textile and quilt artists, we realize that it is important for us to have our work on show. We need to see what other artists are doing and we need our work to be seen also. Our art quilt pictures and images are an important feature of our website.

The bottom line reality is, if someone wants your images badly enough they will find a way to get them. Whilst there is no absolute way to protect your picture or images from being copied, there are deterrents that you can consider using.

Disclaimer

While I have made every effort to test the programs and techniques mentioned in this article, I do not endorse them in any way. I recommend them to you only as a resource and it is up to you to determine if they will suit your needs and requirements.

Table of Contents

Formatting Images for Your Website
Using Watermarks
Prevent Hotlinking to Your Images Using CSS
Image Masking
Disable Right Click
Image Encryption
HTML Encryption
Education

Formatting Art Quilt Pictures and Images for your Website

Ideally, your pictures and images should be formatted for your website to allow for optimal viewing and loading. Remember that a lot of your visitors may use a dial-up internet service, and pictures and images that have a large file-size will take longer to load into the computer monitor. This can be frustrating for people who don’t want to wait around, and … “click” … they are gone off your website.

For best website viewing and loading, photographs should be saved at a resolution of 72 dpi, the width and height should be set at whatever size you will be displaying on screen, and saved to a jpg format. Images with transparency should be saved to a gif or png format.

These settings offer a very small file size which enables your pictures and images to load quickly onto the screen, and also provides good visual presentation.

The advantage of saving pictures and images to these settings for copyright purposes, is that, whilst they provide good viewing online, once the picture or images is downloaded it does not enlarge well and does not print out well.

Further information and tutorials about image optimization can be found at HTMLSource.com, and a very handy, and free, online image optimization tool can be found at SiteReportCard. This website also offers an abundance of free tools to help optimize your webpages.

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Watermarks

A lot of photography websites use watermarks on their images, however for quilt artists, a watermark can detract from the overall appearance of your quilting artwork.

As an option to deter image theft, a transparent watermark applied unobtrusively could be used. A watermark can be an image, a logo or simply text, and most photo editing software allows you to insert a watermark over your image allowing you to select the level of transparency.

Specialized watermarking software is available from The Watermark Factory.

And a free online service is available from WatermarkTool.com.

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Prevent Hotlinking to Your Images Using CSS

Using CSS you can easly prevent hotlinking to your quilt pictures and images.

You simply wrap your image in a DIV tag and save the script to a separate CSS file. The name and source of your file is not visible when you view the source code of your webpage, and since there is no IMG tag on the page, the “copy” function when you right click does not appear.

Example Code
CSS code:
#photo {position:relative; width:200; height:140; background: url(pathtoyourphoto.jpg) no-repeat;}

HTML code:
<div id=”photo”>
</div>

Go ahead, right click the photo and give it a try.

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Image Masking

By placing a transparent gif over the top of your picture, you can easily fool those “right click copiers”. When they click and copy, they pick up the transparent gif rather than your precious art quilt picture.

You can easily do this by adding your art quilt picture as a background image to a table, then overlay a transparent gif into the cell of the table.

Worth noting, this code does not validate for W3C compliance due to setting a picture to the background of the table rather than a color, but if you are not concerned about validating, it works fine.

If you don’t know what validating means, click here. And this is a handy free validating tool.

Sample Code
<table width="200" height="140" background="mypic.jpg">
<tr>
<td>
<img src=”transparent.gif” width="200" height="140">
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Try it; right click the art quilt picture, copy and paste to your image editor.

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Disable Right Click

Disabling the right click is annoying to visitors who use this function to access menu options other than copying, but if you must use it, apply it to your pictures and images only. And just a mention, this function may not work with all browsers.

To disable right click, you need to add an event handler to your html code:

<img src="pathtoyourimage.jpg" width="100" height="24" oncontextmenu="return false;">

Now right click on the art quilt picture – no right click function – but only when you click on the image.

Additionally, you could include a short message.

<img src="mypic.gif" width="100" height="24" oncontextmenu="alert(‘This is my Quilt Art Picture.’);return false;">

Once again, right click on the picture.

Or better yet, include a copyright notice.

<img src="mypic.gif" width="100" height="24" oncontextmenu="alert(‘Copyright © Linda Matthews. If you would like to download this image, please contact me for permission.’);return false;">

You know the routine – right click on the picture.

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Image Encryption

ArtistScope is a company that offers image encryption software called “Secure Image Pro”. The software encrypts your pictures and images and protects them from all avenues of copying except screen capture.

This is not free software, but you can download a trial version to test it out at
Artist Scope.

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HTML Encryption

Whilst file encryption is probably not necessary for your whole webpage, there are ways to encrypt isolated pieces of html including your picture and image tags. This encryption would be useful if used with “disabled right click” or “image masking”.

HTML encryption “garbles” your code so that when someone views the source of your webpage, all they see are a bunch of numbers and symbols. Again, this is not foolproof because there are ways to “un”encrypt coding. However it can be viewed as an additional deterrent.

There are programs that you can purchase that will allow you to encrypt your files including your pictures and images, however these free services seem to do a fine job.

javascript.about.com
DevelopingWebs.net

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Education

While there will always be a certain element of the population that are without conscience or principles, I continue to think that the majority of people who visit our websites and copy our quilting pictures and images simply do so because they do not understand the concept of copyright as it applies to our art work, and neither do they understand the implications of violating it.

As artists and website owners we have a vested interest in educating our visitors. I think we need to take responsibility and make sure that our visitors understand that when they copy our pictures and images, they may be violating our copyright.

It’s a simple thing to put a page on our websites explaining exactly what copyright is and how it applies to the pictures, images and content on the website, as well as what copyright infringement entails. The more of us who do this, the sooner the public will become educated.

Additional copyright information for artists can be found at the Artists Rights Society website.

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Handy Links

Image Optimization
HTMLSource.com
SiteReportCard

Watermarks
The Watermark Factory
WatermarkTool.com

Validating HTML
W3C Org
W3C Validating Tool

Image Encryption
Artist Scope

HTML Encryption
javascript.about.com
DevelopingWebs.net

Copyright Education
Artists Rights Society

As so many of us spend so much time on the internet these days, it is very easy to slip into the habit of infringing upon and downright abusing, other peoples’ copyright. So let’s become aware of our behavior on the internet and learn good surfing habits, particularly in relation to our own quilting and crafting industry. Not only learn good habits, but learn how to respect the rights and property of others.

How does copyright apply to crafters and quilters? Copyright provides author/designers with a monopoly to benefit from their original ideas. The copyright owner alone has the right to make copies, reproduce or distribute the work, or prepare derivative works as explained above. Others must secure written permission before using another’s copyrighted work.

This is a quote from Sylvia Landman’s article ©opyright for Quilters and Crafters, and this is a great place for crafters and quilters to begin learning about copyright. Sylvia states it plain and simple in words that everyone can understand.

by Linda Matthews

Photo courtesy photomequickbooth

Slow down – speed bump ahead
We live in such a fast-paced society that most of us don’t even stop to draw breath some days, let alone stop to think about the repercussions of copyright infringement. A lot of us spend a lot of time on the internet, and while there it’s very easy to inadvertently violate copyright even in the smallest of ways. It’s definitely a minefield out there!

But I didn’t do anything wrong
But even if we are mindful of respecting someone’s copyright it often seems like some copyright disclaimers can be totally unreasonable and/or beyond comprehension. Wording can be confusing, or it takes too long to figure out exactly what the wording means, or quite simply you might think that the copyright owner is wrong to put such restrictions on something that you want so badly.

You might think: “If I get caught I can pretend I didn’t understand the copyright, then I didn’t do anything wrong – right?”

Wrong !
The simple fact is, it’s not your place to say whether someone else’s copyright is unreasonable or not and just because you don’t like it or understand it, doesn’t mean that you should simply ignore it.

It is the right of the copyright owner to decide what limitations are put in place, but in order to protect yourself it is absolutely your responsibility to understand, acknowledge and abide by that copyright whether you like it or not. The copyright is in place for a reason and just because you are unaware of the reason doesn’t make it any less valid.

The moral of this story
Be aware that copyright applies to just about everything on the internet and that although you can very easily “right click and save” just about anything on the web, it really does not mean that it’s the right thing to do.

Before you do that “right click and save” thing, stop and think about it. If this was your image or if these were your words, would you like someone else “borrowing” them for their own purpose, regardless of what that purpose might be?

Remember that even the smallest or seemingly least significant of your actions can have far reaching consequences that may never become apparent to you.

To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes:
We cannot live only for ourselves.
A thousand fibers connect us
with our fellow men;
and among those fibers,
as sympathetic threads,
our actions run as causes,
and they come back to us as effects.
Herman Melville

Resources

Copyright and the internet

Wikipedia

Copyright notice for this article

You are welcome to reprint this article in full or as a series, providing that no changes are made to it, and that this copyright notice and my signature (About the author) remain intact. If you are posting this article to a blog or the website, you must leave the live links intact. If you’re still not sure about it, email me at linda@creative-textile-and-quilting-arts.com.

by Linda Matthews

Photo courtesy Mikelo

What exactly is copyright?
The legal aspects of copyright law are complex, but put simply; copyright is legal protection given to authors and creators of artwork, music and photography and the like to protect them against others using their words, artwork design, music or images.

What is copyright violation?
Copyright violation or infringement is taking those words or images without the knowledge or permission of the creator and using them for your own use and/or personal gain.

What is personal gain?
Personal gain does not only mean making money from someone else’s ideas; it can also mean that you somehow personally gain something from it.

Obvious or not
While photo and article theft are the more obvious copyright infringement situations, other forms of internet copyright violation frequently occur.

Explain please
Let’s try an example . . . A quilter buys a quilt pattern from an online store. It’s in pdf format so she prints it out. She shows the pattern to her group of 12 quilting friends and they decide that it would be fun to have a group playday using this pattern. They are all so excited and set a date – what a great fun day this is going to be!

The quilter who bought the pattern then prints a copy for everyone …. whoops, what’s wrong with that sentence?

Personal gain in this case means that 11 quilting friends personally gain a free quilting pattern even though the teeny tiny copyright notice on the bottom of the document says that you must not share this pattern and that it’s for your own personal use.

Just because they are made available on the internet, does not change the fact that downloadable pdf patterns are most assuredly also subject to the designer’s copyright, just as are paper patterns bought from a store.

Photo courtesty fiona ☾✫ collum

But who’s going to know ?
You will know (and your conscience will know). And maybe the pattern designer will know – did you post photos of your groups’ playday on Flickr or did you blog about it? Remember, the internet brings the whole wide world web and everything on it to anyone’s computer desktop in an instant. Often all it takes is a few simple keystrokes in the Google search box.

But what can, or will, the designer do?
If someone is caught infringing on another’s copyright, the best case scenario would be “probably nothing”, but this type of action is becoming rarer as copyright owners declare war on those who infringe upon their rights.

Large websites such as Flickr and Google make it *very* easy for copyright owners to track and confront those who have taken their content or photos by providing step-by-step instructions on how to identify and confront the perpetrators. If found guilty, consequences can range from a “cease and desist” notice, or at the very worst a “see you in court” letter from a lawyer. It can also result in the perpetrator having his or her website shut down.

If in doubt
Understanding copyright law can be downright confusing and is well beyond what most of us can understand, but the simplest solution is; “If in doubt, ask!” For example, while surfing the web you find an image of a beautiful quilt and you’d like to use it on your computer desktop but the owner’s copyright notice doesn’t say anything about downloading images, then send them an email and ask. You may just be surprised and happy to get a “yes” answer.

Resources

©opyright for Quilters and Crafters by Sylvia Landman

Tomorrow: Part III – “The Blame Game.”

Copyright notice for this article

You are welcome to reprint this article in full or as a series, providing that no changes are made to it, and that this copyright notice and my signature (About the author) remain intact. If you are posting this article to a blog or the website, you must leave the live links intact. If you’re still not sure about it, email me at linda@creative-textile-and-quilting-arts.com.

By Linda Matthews

Have you ever downloaded or copied an image from the internet?
Yes of course you have, they’re just everywhere and they’re just so pretty.

Have you ever downloaded or copied an article from the internet?
Again, I’m sure you have. Other people simply have such interesting stories to tell.

Did you bother to read the copyright notice before you downloaded or copied the image or article from that website?
I’m going to guess your answer would be – “probably not” or “occasionally” or “I don’t have time to read everything on the internet”.

The recent surge of personal blogs, social websites, and photo sharing websites such as Flickr; have more people than ever are taking to the internet to “show and tell“. On the surface this seems like a wonderful opportunity to connect and share with people who have common interests, but on the flip side it has opened up a whole new world of opportunity for you to become a victim of copyright infringement.

Photo courtesy MorgueFile.com

Imagine this . . .
You are walking down the street, maybe doing some window shopping. It’s a beautiful day; the sun is warm on your face; colors are vibrant; the breeze is cool. Everyone you pass has a smile on their face. You are very peaceful and calm and relaxed.

Then suddenly someone whizzes past you, grabs your purse or snatches your wallet and takes off down the street. You are suddenly confused and it takes a second or two to register what’s happened but by then all you can do is stare helplessly as the thief runs at full speed away from you with your possessions grasped tightly in his hand.

You feel violated and helpless. You could chase him or you could stand there and scream about it, but either way, the results will be futile. The culprit has already disappeared, taking with him your hard earned dollars, credit cards and other personal items.

Stop for a moment and consider how you would feel in this scenario.

If you have ever published something to the internet such as an image, an article or a downloadable file, and have just discovered that someone has used this content without your permission, then you will easily recognize this feeling. This is what it feels like to have your copyright violated.

Just because it’s tiny
For most of us, “copyright” is a tiny little word that’s printed on the second of third page of a book, or located in tiny little print at the bottom of most every website and blog on the internet and is seen so often and is now so commonplace that most of us don’t even see the word at all.

Photo courtesy MorgueFile.com

But don’t let that tiny little word fool you, copyright is in fact a big huge and sometimes scary monster of a word. Just because it doesn’t demand to be noticed, does not mean that it should be ignored. In fact, it’s probably the most misunderstood word on the web at the moment; innocently violated by those who don’t understand its implications, or worse, blatantly violated by those who do understand but choose to ignore its implications.

Copyright on the internet
The internet has become a wonderful playground of opportunity, visual excitement and social interactivity. It brings the whole wide world right onto our desktop in an instant.

For quilters and crafters particularly, this is exciting – we can quickly learn a new technique by taking an online class; we can see what other quilters are working on by viewing their photos located on Flickr or their blog; and we can download a quilting pattern in an instant.

We can also “right click and save” just about anything on the internet.

But just because it is so easy to download articles information and images, and save them to our desktop, does that make it right to do so?

Resources

Quilting Copyright & Quilters Links

Tomorrow: Part 2 in the article series: Please Don’t Steal My Copyright, it’s Naughty

Copyright notice for this article

You are welcome to reprint this article in full or as a series, providing that no changes are made to it, and that this copyright notice and my signature (About the author) remain intact. If you are posting this article to a blog or the website, you must leave the live links intact. If you’re still not sure about it please contact me.