The MPAA / RIAA stranglehold, in the USA, on the electronic consumer, may have reached a peak with their ability to coerce the US Congress to pass the DMCA. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, thought by some to be the most noxious bit of legislation since the British Tea Act of 1773, may have a valid use, though.
It's possible that the DMCA Violation Form, which Blogger / Google provides, may be useful in reporting content that's been pirated, personally, from you. If you believe that your pictures, and / or articles, are being unjustly copied within Blogger / Google hosting space, you may get some relief from reporting this as a DMCA Violation.
Note, however, that a DMCA Violation report is a serious complaint, and can have repercussions both upon the source and target of the complaint.Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.
Don't use the DMCA Violation Complaint as a casual harassment technique - only use it where you are extremely certain that your legal rights are being violated. If the Fair Use Doctrine might transcend your personal rights, or if you are unsure here what your rights provide to you, protect yourself and contact a lawyer.
If you receive a DMCA Notice, and you believe yourself to be innocent of any wrongdoing, file a Counter Claim.The administrator of an affected site or the provider of affected content may make a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When we receive a counter notification, we may reinstate the material in question.
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Every week, we see the naive queryHow do I prevent my pictures from being copied?
and this, I regret to say, is a magic trick that has yet to be perfected. Others askWhy does Google let people publish blogs with pictures stolen from other blogs?
and here, we have to note that Google has no interest in controlling blog content, beyond the limits of their own TOS regulations.
Each of us is responsible for ensuring that our content - that we own - remains ours.
Google doesn't do this for us. They aren't legally, morally, or socially responsible for controlling duplication of blog / website content, until the owner of any blog or website reports a problem. And even when a problem is reported, they have to consider both sides of the story.
Protecting our blog content is our responsibility.
Some well meaning helpers will tell you of free software that blocks context menu (right mouse click) "Save Image As". That software is written as JavaScript. Many folks, like me, explicitly block JavaScript from "BlogSpot.com" and other untrusted domains, using Firefox and NoScript, for personal security. Blocking scripts from untrusted domains is a normal component in layered security, on our computers.
Besides the fact that you can't effectively block the context menu "Save Image As" command, you can't control what's stored on my computer.
If your blog is viewed on my computer, it's my content.
I've written about cache, here and there. Cache is a basic feature in Internet design. It lets us view the same web site (blog) repeatedly, without requiring that the same content be downloaded from the server repeatedly. If you're viewing this article using your browser, it's cached in your browser.
If your computer is on a large network, it's possible that your computer connects to the Internet through a caching proxy server. If your ISP offers enhanced bandwidth, it's possible that they cache content too.
If I added a picture to this article, it would be cached, along with the text that you are reading. The right software can search and retrieve any cached content, from any cache. Anybody who needs to "steal" your pictures just needs the right software, and he can steal them right out of cache.
Anybody can make a screen print.
Besides blocking the "Save Image As" wizard, and from prohibiting caching, you'll face a third challenge. What's on my screen can be copied. Screen printing is very popular software. Print the screen, crop everything but the picture of interest, and there it is. Save it, and you have it. Display the picture full size, print that, and you have the full size copy.
How about watermarking the pictures? Put the URL of the web site in the corner. You can do this using IrfanView, PhotoShop, and a few more image processing programs. But watermarks are just bits. What you can take out, I can put back, with more software. And watermarks make the pictures ugly. They are as bad as the broadcast TV commercials at the bottom of the screen.
You can copyright your pictures - but can you enforce the copyright?
Finally, you are entitled to copyright your content. There are some free copyright "protection" services too. Register your content, and it's protected. But no, the Internet reaches all over the world.
Can you afford the lawyers, that will practice in every nation worldwide, and enforce your copyright? If your content / pictures are being pirated on a Blogger / Google hosted web site, you may be able to get action from a DMCA Complaint - but note the warnings, carefully.
Face it - once you publish a picture in your blog, it too is like a dandelion. It's out of your control.
Sorry. Magic only goes so far.
