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Ongoing Image Copyright Issues, PHP and MySQL solutions

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-01-14 00:21:17 - Graham Ellis

I actually want to encourage people to use my images ... but to do so with permission, which usually means something as simple as a link back you our page which works out for everyone's benefit. A lot of people ask, but some don't seem to know that they should!

I've added an ability to "watermark" images into my image database script so that I can do things like this:

if (eregi("vwvortex",$_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]) and eregi('mounthill',$filename)) { $error =
2; }


and follow that up with some of PHP / GD's excellent image routines to produce a result like:



I don't think some people realise just how risky it is linking from another site ... I could have put up a dramatically different picture there if I had wanted to!

Actually, I'm going to be very nice about this - just ask for a link back. The page linked to is intentionally one with a very short URL to make it even easier - http://www.wellho.info


Update - 17th January I'm clearly not the only one who feels strongly that permission should be sought before an image is used. "I Stole this image. Next time I'll have the decency to use my own bandwidth when I steal" says an image here ... a page I went to this morning as a result of a number of visits from their site. You may have guessed ... another of the images is one of ours!