On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, FINKELSTEIN RICHARD S wrote:

> >There are also companies developing software which prevents image files
> >from being downloaded from the server.
>
> Although I fully believe that someone would market such a thing with such
> claims, here is something for readers to consider . . . .
>
> If you are seeing a web image on your screen, guess what? It has ALREADY
> been downloaded!

Actually it is possible to 'almost' protect against image theft....if the
image was read in by a Java applet, perhaps as a bit map, AND you use some
sort of signing, that image ptobably won't end up in the cache, and if the
image path was not 'passed' to the applet in the html code, but rather
comes from a database accessible by that applet, then the only way to get
your hands on that image is to do a screen grab.  Of course a screen grab
can be blocked simply by using scrolls, or by having a floating watermark
over the images canvas.
        The most interesting way I have seen to block image theft, in a
low tech fashion was done by some Dallas museum(?) web page in which they
broke the images up into several parts.  A person would have to be
determined and good at Photoshop to get it back together...


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