By ivk on
Hello everyone,
I want to prevent visitors from downloading or copying the images from the website. I therefore installed the Protect photo module. Everything looks to me like it should. Still, it's possible to download or copy the images with the right mouse button.
Is there anyone who has successfully applied this module and / or has a suggestion about what’s going wrong or who knows another way to achieve this?
Thanks in advance.
Comments
You cannot stop download of visible image
Generally speaking, it's not really possible to protect an image on the internet from getting downloaded, if the user can see it. There will be a way to get it then.
Some attempt to block right-click with JavaScript, but that's easily circumvented, as can be seen in this issue I found when I looked in the issue queue: #3484363: Doesn't protect at all?!.
It's not possible to entirely
It's not possible to entirely block someone from downloading an image. Any method can be worked around.
The best you can do is use Drupal's private file system to ensure that only people with the correct permissions can access them.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Complete protection is a myth
IVK, I am afraid you are fighting a losing battle here. Both ressa and jaypan are spot on. If a user can see an image on their screen, they can get a copy of it. It is that simple.
Right-click blocking is trivial to bypass. Anyone with basic browser knowledge can open developer tools and grab the image URL directly. Or they can just take a screenshot. There is no technical solution that will stop a determined user.
The best you can do is use Drupal's private file system. That ensures only logged-in users with the right permissions can access images. But even then, once they are logged in and viewing them, they can still download them.
My advice? Watermark your images if you are worried about unauthorised use. That at least makes them less useful for someone else to steal. But accept that complete protection is a myth. Focus your energy on other areas.
On a slightly off-topic more
On a slightly off-topic more general discussion, I don't even think watermarks will matter much going forward, as AI can remove them as if they were never there in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, image ownership will become difficult to attribute and police.
I think this is the problem NFT's were supposed to address, but the whole investment insanity that happened with them may have torpedoed that idea before it ever got moving in the direction it was supposed to.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.
Clear
It's a wish of the person for whom I'm building the site. And since I found the mentioned module, I thought it should be possible. Although in all the decades that I've been on the internet, I think I've only come across one page where copying with the right mouse button was blocked.
"Watermark your images .... Focus your energy on other areas."
That's exactly what I'm going to do! There are still plenty of other things to improve or optimize.
Thanks everyone for your response!
I would open a bug report in
I would open a bug report in the issue queue for the module. Include your OS and browser, along with the versions, and the actions you took to get the site to the state where the right click is not working. Open a JavaScript console and look for any error messages in the console, adding them to the bug report.
This module will provide a modicum of protection against people who don't know how to get around it. Watermarking will provide another modicum of protection. You may be able to use one of these modules:
Combine this with the Drupal private file system, and you can somewhat protect your images. It won't be perfect, but you'll get anyone that doesn't have a bit of determination.
Contact me to contract me for D7 -> D10/11 migrations.