The first method I recommend is called digital image watermarking. A watermark can be visible or can be invisibly embedded into the pixels of an image. There are companies like Digimarc offering digital watermarking services and providing a digital identity for any media object, thus protecting it from stealing. But these systems are not fool proof, they have serious weaknesses and they are costly.

Another method would be to hide your original image behind a transparent GIF using CSS style sheets. If someone right clicks the image and selects to save it, it will only save the transparent GIF, not the original image. Similarly, you can insert the image as a table background. But in both cases a visitor can always make use of the -PrtScrn- button to copy anything from your website.

Embedding the images in Flash files is another popular method. Now, this is a neat method to use, it will make it difficult for a thief to steal your work. You cannot right click and copy the image if it’s embedded in a flash file. But the flash file is already on your hard drive (cache). You can use any flash de-compiler software to easily grab any contents from a flash executable file. And of course you can simply use the -PrtScn- button to take snapshots.

You see, the truth is that there’s nothing you can do to prevent a thief from stealing your content.

Document imaging technology helps businesses finally begin to deliver on what over half a century ago IBM scientists first touted: the paperless office. With the aid of document imaging, businesses today can streamline operations by replacing many hard copy documents with digitalized ones. Through file imaging faxes, emails and regular file documents can be digitalized, saving space, time and money for the organization.

Basically, document imaging is a matter of scanning files and paper documents, then having them converted into digital images that can be stored in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) or digital files on your network server, computer hard drive, CD, DVD, or Document Management System. Often organizations prefer to have their file imaging stored off-site with a third party provider. This can be an excellent choice that offers greater security for important company documents and reduces employees’ workload, freeing them up to handle other tasks.

Another advantage of document imaging is the capacity it offers for using optical character recognition (OCR) on scanned documents. Using OCR an employee can search a document for specific text blocks and then copy them to another application — a real time saver!

One of the great advantages of using file imaging is the ability to scan in a faxed or paper form and then be able to fill it out online — even check boxes. Once complete, the form can be sent via email.

Other advantages include:

-Document imaging makes it possible to add comments to a scanned document on your computer and then publish it by email to others.

-file imaging allows anyone in your office to circulated scanned documents as email or as an Internet fax.

-file imaging permits the reorganizing and pagination of a scanned document and then the distribution of it via email.

-file imaging lets you copy images or text from scanned pieces and insert them into other documents.

In all, document imaging cuts paper costs, handling costs and storage costs and that leads to a more efficient office and workforce. And, once a document is scanned, any authorized person can access it wherever an Internet connection is available.

Clearly, while file imaging does not fully eliminate the need for hard copy documents, it does take a giant leap toward a more efficient, more earth-friendly office.

All this being said, most experts believe that we will never become a fully paperless society. There will always be those who want to print out a document and hold it in their hands. However, as people become more comfortable with the convenience of electronic commerce, finance and communication, more and more of our lives will be handled through electronic documents and our society will, as a result, become increasingly paperless.

The content based image search doesn’t look at the pixels and recognize them as an horse, for instance, but instead uses technology to mirror and allow for fuzziness so that pictures that are similar can be identified and brought to the screen. For example, if you were to go to www.airliners.net and run a search on the photos, you will find the option of viewing a large picture of the thumbnail images, but you can also select the option to view similar pictures. This is done through the content based image comparison software. Another example of a such kind software is Image Comparer by Bolide Software. http://www.bolidesoft.com/imagecomparer.html

For the person who is searching for just the right image to work with a feature article, or a mood piece, the content based image search is extremely helpful. The images that have been indexed, and there are thousands, not only have the content based image comparison visual recognition feature, but many of the images which are indexed also have numerous text keywords attached to the images as well. For example, clicking on a picture of a lightning strike and asking to see similar images brings up dozens of pictures of lightning and storms, as well as dark clouds. Clicking on the individual images bring a list of content words such as lightning, clouds, electromagnetic phenomenon, thunderstorms, and weather events–among others.

By using content based image search software, you aren’t dependent upon just the text to find a good sidebar image to attach to your article or story, you also have the many picture images that are available on the internet as well. Sometimes the keywords are not rigid, more like a free association type of exercise. Such the above mentioned lightning picture which also contains keywords such as amazement, awe, danger and menacing.

This makes it possible to write around the picture, or to start with the words and find an appropriate picture image to enhance the written words that you come up with. In addition to writing and blending images with writing. Content based image comparison is largely used in law enforcement as a standard platform for forensic analysis at the digital level. This technology can be used to do such tasks as to find pornography, to look for copyright violations, to check facial characteristics and many other uses helpful in working with law enforcement tasks.

Another application for the content based image search technology is that of an international property registry. The software has been applied to the identification and prevention of sale of stolen goods. Recovery of items looted during World War II and following before they can be traded or sold has been a direct result of such software technology.

If you want your website to appear in the image search results and tap into new visitors and customers you need to optimize your website for image search. This is not hard to do but will require some time and effort from you. Here are the steps to follow when optimizing your website for image search.

Think How You Can Employ Images On Your Website

First of all you need to think how you can employ images on your website and what kind of images that would be. The key point here is that you need to attract targeted traffic, i.e. people who might be interested in the products or services that you offer not just the pics on your website. First of all think about how you can spark up interest in your prospective customers with images and base your choice of the image content on your sales pitch.

Once you’ve come up with the ways to use images on your website you can start looking for them.

Find/Create Images

There are two ways you can go to get the images for your website. First, you can create them yourself. In this case make sure to add some copyright protection such as ‘image by your_name’ or ‘picture from your_website’ watermarks because image theft is a real issue and the content you create may get scrapped.

If you’re anything but Michelangelo there’s always a second option: you can get the images elsewhere. Search the web for free images, buy images or ask someone to make them for you for a fee or a beer.  

Optimize for Image Search

Once you have the images in place you can start optimizing for image search. Here’s a checklist of things you need to see to:

- Alt Tags

Alt tags are perhaps the most important ranking factor in the image search algorithm. An Alt tag is a description of your image that is used to help search engine crawlers determine the relevancy of the image. Besides the Alt tag will be shown instead of the image in cases when users have pics disabled in their browser or when image cannot be displayed for some reason. Be sure to use your targeted keywords in the alt tags. Also keep in mind that words like ‘image’, ‘picture’, ‘photo’, etc. are often attributed to the search query.

- File name

Try to include the file names with your keywords but make sure they stay logical. Note that hyphens are better word separators then underscores.

- Avoid Duplication of Images

If you have one and the same image in several sizes make sure they don’t all get indexed. The best way to do it is to deny search robots access to the variants of the image you don’t want to get indexed (thumbnails for example) in the robots.txt file.

- Build links

Build links to the page with images. The easiest way to do it is to submit the page to social bookmarking sites.

Hope these tips will help you optimize for image search and you’ll see a nice increase in your website’s traffic.

Even if someone does notice, you will probably just receive an email asking for its removal. If you comply with that request, nothing else will happen to you.

Even if you ignore that letter, you will probably just have to suffer a temporary take down of the offending page until you make requisite adjustments.

You probably won’t be sued.

So, considering just how unlikely it is to run into life-threatening trouble from infringing upon someone else’s rights, why should you care?

Let’s outline a few reasons why no one should intentionally act in a manner that infringes someone else’s intellectual property rights.

Moral reasons. Most of us would agree that stealing is wrong. Regardless of our faiths and backgrounds, most of us accept the notion that stealing is immoral and is something we probably ought not to be doing. Infringing upon copyrights is a form of stealing.

It represents the theft of personal property in the form of an idea, writing or image. It represents stealing potential profit from the creator of the item in question by diluting its uniqueness and reifying a structure that allows for theft. If you infringe upon a copyright, you are stealing.

Social reasons. The idea that we should “do unto others” isn’t merely a moral consideration. It has real-world justifications.

So long as we respect the rights of one another, we can continue to function in a relatively well-organized and pleasant society. When property rights cease to matter, that certainly isn’t the case. Respect for personal rights is the glue that holds society together.

Risk exists. Although the risk associated with the use of stolen materials may seem slight, it is present. Its consequences can be high, in relative terms, too.

Stealing someone else’s copyrighted material may not land you in prison, but it can force you do deal with take down notices and other inefficiencies.

Additionally, if a lawsuit should be filed against you or other legal action taken, the consequences will undoubtedly outstrip the value of your misappropriation.

Basic risk analysis dictates avoiding copyright infringement. Even if the likelihood of a negative consequence seems slight, the potential impact is simply too great to risk.

There is also the very real risk that your identification as a copyright infringer could have horrible repercussions on your business and ability to socially engage others online.

It may not be a scarlet “A” across your chest, but getting the scarlet “circled C” on the chest of your avatar can be almost as bad.

In the end, we should recognize and respect the rights of others because it is the right thing to do. That should be enough of a justification.

Though vast in scope, one particular area of DMCA is of special interest to those who are suffering from an online copyright infringement. It stems from the “Safe Harbor Provisions” in Section 512 of the law.

In basic terms, the DMCA provides hosts of websites with a form of immunity from lawsuits stemming from copyright infringements that occur on “their” sites.

A host actually stores the data that comprises a website. Most people do not host their own sites and rely upon a host company to do the job. You can think of it in terms of an apartment owner.

The owner of the building (the host) rents out apartments (server space for websites) to tenants (webmasters).

The DMCA allows the landlord to avoid being held responsible for what tenants are doing in their individual apartments so long as they take appropriate action when notified of wrongdoing.

The Safe Harbor Provisions of the DMCA allow individuals to provide that notice to the host.

Thus, if you are being victimized by someone who is infringing upon your copyrights, you can advise the host of the problem and the host is then obligated to take down the offending content.

However, you can’t just pick up the phone, call a host and demand that material be removed. Well, you can, but the host is under no obligation to listen to you.

The host will only be obligated to take action if you supply them with an appropriately structured DMCA “take down” complaint.

The law provides exactly what must be included in such a complaint. We’ve supplied a sample DMCA complaint in the Appendices of this text for additional guidance.

At a minimum, a valid DMCA complaint must contain the following:

* Detailed description of the copyrighted work that was allegedly infringed upon, in the form of the original URL of the image, text, or page or other information that can specify the copyrighted work.

* Detailed identification of the material, with enough information to locate the material. This includes what actions were taken in finding the material to the direct link to the infringing web page.

* Information to allow the Xanga Abuse team to contact you directly (Email address is preferred.)

* A statement that you in good faith believe that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

* A sworn statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information given is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright holder or owner of an exclusive right.

* An electronic signature (your full legal name) of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright holder or owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Once you have created an appropriate DMCA complaint, it must be sent to the host.

Finding the host is usually not a difficult process. Although WhoIs data is unlikely to reveal the host (instead providing information about the registrar of the site), other tools like SamSpade can help.

If you can’t determine the host, or are unable to get a satisfactory resolution from them, you may have some success by contacting the company through which the site was registered.

Music copyrights can be a confusing topic. First of all there are many people involved: the composer, the publisher, and the music licensing agency, each of whom has different rights which depend on how the business relationships are structured.. Then there are many types of rights, including the public performance right, the mechanical right, the reproduction right, the synchronization right, and others. Does this all sound confusing? Don’t feel bad – it is confusing. This article will provide a basic outline of the various types of rights, as well as identify some more authoritative references. Its also important to understand the difference between a song or musical work (we will use these terms interchangeably) on one hand, and a sound recording on the other. A musical work is the composition of the song itself (such as the lyrics and sheet music). A sound recording is when someone performs the song and it is recorded onto a medium that allows the song to be played again. Many different types of rights can be granted for musical works.

These are: The right to reproduce The right to distribute (the mechanical right) The right to create derivative works The right to perform publicly The right to display publicly In addition, a few different rights can be granted related to a sound recording. These are: The right to reproduce The right to distribute (the mechanical right) The right to create derivative works Public Performance Right US Copyright Law, Title 17, Section 101 defines a performance right as follows: to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to the public, by any means of any device or process, whether the members of the public capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places and at the same time or at different times. This right means that the copyright holder must authorize every instance of a song being played on a radio station, TV station, concerts, jukeboxes, or by other means.

Reproduction Rights : Reproduction is the right of the copyright holder to make copies of a musical work or sound recording on a CD, record, computer files, in print, as part of a movie soundtrack, or other recording medium. This includes the right of duplication of such recordings in quantity.

Mechanical Rights : Mechanical rights are needed if you intend to reproduce and distribute a musical work. This right is typically needed by a record company. The record company pays a fee per unit for this right. The fee is paid to the publisher or the publisher’s agent.

Synchronization Rights : A Synchronization right is the right to synchronize the performance of a sound recording in a specific way with visual images. Synchronization rights are important in the use of songs and sound recordings on TV shows, in the movies, or other types of motion picture and video media.

Derivative Works Rights : The derivative works right is the right to take a original song or sound recording and make alterations to it. For example, you can alter a song by writing new lyrics for it. Or you can alter a sound recording by mixing in additional instruments or incorporating it into a medley

Display Rights : This right is refers to the right to display a song publicly. This is a right encountered less frequently than the others, but would become an issue if someone wanted to display a song in some fashion (e.g. put the lyrics for a song in their store window). This is just a short introduction into copyrights, and again, I must stress that you should not attempt to copyright your music or move further on this subject without first getting your hands on a copy of Ty Cohen’s complete copyright course called “Copyright Your Music In Minutes”