Copy Protection

[LaReina]

Say I put photos on a USB stick.

Is there a fool proof (or at least one that will require a seriously good hacker) way to protect my photos from being copied from the stick??

I want to present an idea to someone, but then i don't want them to steal my work if I send the stick to them by mail.

[Kyosuken]

if they can "view" they can copy... so preventing them from copying the files from the usb key won't really matter, they could screen capture or whatever to access the content... your best luck i think is to send low quality photos with a big watermark in the middle (or many watermark actually) so they will have to "recreate" the photos wich at this point would be pretty difficult (not impossible though)

[Crossy]

Agree with Kyosuken, if they can view they can copy

There have been reams written on pro-photo websites about how to protect your work, and unfortunately, you really are limited to the suggestions above, small, low res, watermarked images. Send the 'real thing' when they pay

Edited May 24, 2007 by Crossy

[cdnvic]

You can use USB keys with virtually unbreakable 256 bit encryption built in but they cost a lot. The other option is TrueCrypt, a free program and just as secure:

http://www.truecrypt.org/

[A_Traveller]

Say I put photos on a USB stick.

Is there a fool proof (or at least one that will require a seriously good hacker) way to protect my photos from being copied from the stick??

I want to present an idea to someone, but then i don't want them to steal my work if I send the stick to them by mail.

Sorry not sure I understand, if you have a presentation on the stick, which can be accessed in your absence, then how would copy protection help?

If you want to secure then truecrypt will do that for you, but my above question stands.

Regards

/edit typo //

Edited May 24, 2007 by A_Traveller

[LaReina]

I was thinking that if I could have some sort of an auto run file on the USB stick, then my photos would load automatically.

However, I could somehow lock the files on the stick, so that one could not access the files so as to copy them. Or maybe a password protection that allows only viewing, but when you move to another location the picture is no longer valid. Or maybe i could hide them on the stick.

The problem with my auto run idea is, either the computer viewing the USB stick would have to have its registry altered (to enable auto run) or they would have to have a USB auto run enabler computer program on their computer... I think..

I guess the watermark then is my best bet.

[cdnvic]

Autorun enablement is what causes that annoying "Hacked by godzilla" file to spread via usb sticks. We've been trying to teach everyone to keep it turned off.

[LivinLOS]

If you want to be the only acesser of the disc then encrypt it..

[cdnvic]

If you want to use it for demonstration purposes, try making a DVD slideshow and using that instead. then it's a video rather than individual photos.

Most people wouldn't be able to grab your pics from that

[Kyosuken]

But... Encryption is not a solution dudes ... if he encrypts the data and only him can access the data how can he show it ?making a video slideshow is a solution but low res pictures w/ watermark is still the best.

[cdnvic]

If you're trying to sell quality though, the low-res works against you.

[Kyosuken]

in that case, say he sells many photos, then he can just include one or two high quality ones and the rest is downgraded... BTW a Photo slideshow would lose quality too ^^

[brianinbangkok]

So you want them to view but not be able to copy ur photo's ?

Hmm why not just send them some high quality printouts then as this will get the idea across and will not allow them to just copy them and use them. (maybe with watermarks).

Sure you could use a flatbed scanner but quality would be degraded a lot

Edited May 25, 2007 by brianinbangkok

[Kyosuken]

Another solution would be to convert the files to PDF with security enabled (to prevent direct copy from the file) if it's used with the lastest adobe acrobat i think that yet no crack can break the algorythm yet. But anyway even if adobe would prevent the screen capture to happen, there are loads of alternatives on Internet that will allow screen capture to be made...

There is little people can do against that.

Or, i can think of a solution : try using something like PGP : your files are full quality but encrypted, you have a public key that you can "share" with the company you are sending the photos to, and they need to provide you a public key so they can look at the pictures too. Say you put on the usb key a "preview" mid quality of your work, to access the HQ stuff they will need your public key, and thus it's like a sort of contract...

[ozymandious]

I was going to suggest Adobe Acrobat also: with copy and print not allowed.

Screen Capture is a possibility that you need to contend with on anything soft copy that they can view.

I like the idea of slide show as a video. Harder to grab.

I say water mark the hel_l out it.

Good luck and let us know what you decide on.

Edit: poor grammer

Edited May 25, 2007 by ozymandious

[A_Traveller]

What about converting the presentation to a flash format? In that case the format and the quality are controllable, and unless the recipient is willing to obtain a program to break open the file, the content is to a degree secured.

Equally it's easy for the recipient to use the presentation, and the source images are not even on the stick, only the encoded images within the flash stream. There would be little point in creating a presentation which was difficult to use, and by creating a suitable quality html framework for the flash content conveys the quality point as well.

Regards

/edit typo //

Edited May 25, 2007 by A_Traveller

[ozymandious]

What about converting the presentation to a flash format?

Good Idea!