Images on this site were compressed using e-Vue MPEG4 technology in 2001, which was groundbreaking at the time for its DRM component and higher compression than JPG, however e-Vue is no more — we are transitioning these images to JPEG for 2004.
If you ask the typical photographer what their primary concern is relating to their images and the Internet, they will say it's the issue of unauthorized copying of images. A huge cottage industry has grown up around thwarting illicit and casual copying of images without the permission of the rights holder. Although loosely defined as digital rights management (DRM) because it's "digital," and you're controlling "rights," this segment has traditionally been categorized more as "image protection."
One of the original, and widely copied, solutions for this problem of image and art thievary online is ArtistScope's Secure Image which comes in three flavors; free, regular, and "pro" (or, if you prefer; caffeiene free, regular, and "jolt"). The differences are primarly that the Pro version includes a variety of nifty image display options including scaling and mouse-overs.
Proper Protection
The software is only available in download form, and this allows you to try the product in trial form to see if it suits your needs. Once registered, depending on version, you can load images from a single site or multiple "authorized" sites (in the Pro version). The Secure Image Pro solution comprises a Java-based application for either MacOS or Windows which converts your images to an encrypted format without affecting image quality, and a series of Java applets which are uploaded to your Web site along with your HTML page(s). When your pages are viewed online the viewing applet is automatically loaded in any 3x or newer browser, and these applets control access to your image content.
The main window shows images loaded into project panel, and changes such as border and scaling; configure options are set per image or globally for batch processing. Once an image gallery is viewed online, images can't be mouse-click saved, linked to, and can be set so that when the mouse touches an image your copyright notice is shown.
The solution provides for protection from the popular right-mouse-click copying method and MS Internet Explorer "save site" function as well as hiding the actual URL of the image from sneaks who look at image locations in HTML. We tested this solution on a sample live Web page and were impressed by the product's ability to thwart mouse-saving, and printing from IE. It also did a perfect job of disallowing capture from various tools like GetBot, and Adobe's Acrobat 5 "open Web page" capture tools. It also fixed another of the workarounds to many similar image protection products by fully encrypting the image so that what is stored in the cache can't be read by cache readers (normally any image viewed on the Web is saved in your computer cache folder and can be retrieved from there either manually or using tools for this purpose).
The Pro version has some other nice features like automatic building of an HTML template — either all images on a single gallery page, or one image per page. You can even set things like if the image is clicked it will forward you to the next page in a gallery, with frame targeting options. You can also embed copyright info which shows up as the image is downloading, on mouse-over, and in the browser message window. Viewing options allow you to control how the image is displayed including image swap as the mouse touches the image, message display on mouse over, or even default text message that swaps to the image when the mouse touches it (to preclude printing from any application that might not be protected by the other inherent methods).
To use the application, it installs easily, then you simply use the menu to "add" images to the project window. You can then set options per image (such as how displayed and text message), then you press the convert button and all images are encrypted and added to a project folder with the related applets. You can then edit the template files, or copy the output code and drop this into your normal site design templates. Upload files and applets to your domain and that's it. No cgi-scripts or complex Web server configuration files.
The trial allows you to test the product for 48 hours on a live site, but after that you need to purchase a domain-name license key file.
Locking it Up
The only problems with Secure Image Pro lie in its implementation on the MacOS (tested under OS9.1) which had some problems like an inability to navigate beyond the root drive where the application lived (no option to select other drives or partitions to load images) and that it showed all invisible files on the drive which if loaded accidentally could cause system problems. There were also some funky things like two "help" entries in the top menu bar, and the help option simply says "see docs in application folder." The "About Secure Image" under the Apple menu is greyed out and doesn't work. Other than that it works perfectly and never crashed after several restarts and relaunches (amazing for a Java-based product on the Mac).
Under Windows the only problem was the lack of an uninstaller option, and the default Windows add/remove system doesn't see the app. This meant manual deletion of the folder, the alias on the desktop, and the ill-advised manual removal of alias in the Windows->Start->Programs folder.
The publisher has indicated these issues will be addressed in a dot revision to be available on their Web site.
All in all, Secure Image Pro does exactly what it says it will do, provide the best possible protection for the most common methods of image copying without permission. It does not, however, protect from screen capture, although they offer a higher-end solution called CopySafe which does.
Documentation is thorough although reads as if a programmer prepared it and was not completely proof-read, and an important issue is neglected which is server permissions to make sure all applets are CHMOD as "executable." In their favor, the docs are available as both a PDF and HTML, and they promise unlimited tech support by email until you get it working on your site.
Secure Image Pro is ideal for the average photographer, artist, and non-Webmaster who wants to provide the best possible image copying protection and deterrant at a reasonable price.
< E N D >
(Editor's Note: Disclosure — shortly after this review was written and submitted to a national publication, Mr. Simmons' company was hired as the PR firm for ArtistScope. The comments and experiences contained in this review were prepared prior to any business relationship between the author and the company/products mentioned in the review.)
Product Summary
ArtistScope "Secure Image Pro 3"
Secure Image Pro — available for MacOS and Windows
Artistscope — www.artistscope.net
Information believed accurate at time of writing but is not guaranteed, and is subject to change by the manufacturer.
Christopher Simmons is an award-winning designer, photographer, and marketing guru. He is president of Neotrope, which offers brand identity and marketing services. E-mail him at cs@digitalauthor.com. A version of this article appeared in the Oxtober 2001 edition of Digital Imaging magazine.
