| Protecting Your Copyrights
on the Web  by Mary E. Carter
It's a pixel eat pixel world out there Your content on the web may be
copyrighted, but that doesn't mean it's safe by any stretch of the imagination. On the surface, digital watermarking (a technical process that embeds your copyright information into your graphics) appears to be the protection you need to enforce your copyrights on the Web. But scratch none too deeply and you will discover the flaws in this system that could leave your work open to infringement.
Copyrights and wrongs, an introduction. Part I: When it's legal to copy.You own them, but how can you protect them? The short answer is Digimarc, but it's not that simple.What is a digital watermarking system? It's a means to
"mark" your graphics without notice, and some systems help you track down infringers.Are there other ways to protect them? Yes, cryptography and your own HTML can help in some situations. Are these systems foolproof?
No, and if the "legitimate" companies don't thwart your efforts, the hackers might.How can I deal with my copyrights in a world full of pirates? First, determine your level of copyright-infringement aversion.
For your protection: Check these sites on the Web for all you ever wanted to know about digital copyright protection.  You own them, but how can you protect them?
Oh, boy! I had hoped to make this thing simple. I had hoped that I could just tell you about the latest developments on the digital watermark front and assure you not to worry your pretty little heads about copyright infringement of your Web site's material. And I had hoped to be able to do all of this whilst
refraining from mentioning any digital watermarking brand names in the process. Since the publication of my book on copyrights in 1996, I would have thought that technology would have removed many of the obstacles to copyright protection on Web sites. Au contraire! In reverse order of my hopes: There are more brand name digital watermarking products now than there ever were back in '96. You will have to worry your pretty
little heads about being ripped off on-line. And there are ever more sneaky ways an infringer can get her sticky little fingers on your work than in the dim past of a mere three years. By now you know and understand your copyrights (although from the tone of some of your e-mail questions, I doubt you have really gotten them into your bloodstream—if you haven't, you should read
parts one and two of this series).But you get the gist of the idea that you have certain legal rights once you create so-called intellectual property. And that these rights apply as much to the publication of your
intellectual property on your Web site as to anywhere else you would publish your creations. But how can you protect your work from infringement in the seething polyglot universe of the Wild World Web? This, dear creative people, is no small question. First, the short, simple answer, replete with its accompanying brand name: Use the digital watermarking system that Digimarc bundles with your graphics software--Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, PhotoPaint, and many other programs.  What is a digital watermarking system?
A digital watermarking system embeds an image and/or copyright information
into the pixels of your work. If you are using the Digimarc System, which is provided in your software of choice, your watermark also provides you with a means of discovering who may have copied your image and where they may have put it, anywhere on the Web. On screen, a viewer cannot see this watermark, just as you cannot see a watermark on a piece of paper lying on your desk. But pick up that paper and hold it to the light and you see the watermark clearly.
Similarly, move a digitally watermarked Web image from your Web site to an infringer's Web site and the watermark with its copyright information will appear. If another person then decides to use your copyrighted image anyway, it can be tracked down by Digimarc's Web bot, a product called MarcSpider, which scans the Web for you in search of your images on other people's sites. With MarcSpider's evidence of downloading, you have a very strong case for pursuing a
copyright infringement case against the infringer who willfully downloads such a protected image. For FAQs about Digimarc's watermarking system, click here.' That's the short of it. There are many other digital watermarking products/systems
on the market that fundamentally do the same thing. But since Digimarc comes with the most popular graphics applications, it makes sense to use it out of the box. Here is a selection of Web sites of other watermarking products for you to do a quick review. But I must caution you: Before you go to a lot of effort to comparison shop, please read the rest of this article to determine if any digital watermarking system will work for you.
Copysight: a Java-based serviceIBM CryptolopesImageSafe: a Java-based toolNot to mention products from Microtrace Inc., AT&T, OwnerMark, Musicode, FlashPix, and dozens of European and Asian companies.  Are there other ways to protect my copyrights?
Cryptography No longer the stuff of super-secret spy rings, encryption has moved well into the domain of the everyday computer graphics user. Encryption is a way of protecting the content of messages.
With Pretty Good Privacy encryption software, for instance, the form of encryption is called public key. It can be used on any digital file, text, or graphic. Public key refers to the fact that it uses one key to encode a file (the so-called public key, your key) and one key to decode it (for instance your client's key). One small problem: Nobody but your intended viewer—the one who has the decoding key—can see your image. So this works when you want to send or post
something securely, but only the people who have your key can see it. Not much of a solution for things you want people to see on the web! Flash Macromedia's popular Flash software lets you place graphics and text into a special format that around 90% of the people on the web can see. You can choose to protect your Flash file
so that others can't take and reuse parts of it. You can even put text in there, so that people can't just swipe over it and copy it--and you can keep it all from being printed.That said--people can get the entire Flash file and use it on their site (no, I'm not telling you how!), and there are simple ways to copy individual graphics. And of course, they can always retype the text (though clearly that can be tedious). So
while it does offer a level better than HTML, I wouldn't call it secure. Acrobat PDF Acrobat has the edge in terms of protecting text. PDF files can require that you enter a password to open them. They can keep you from printing or copying graphics. There are even optional eBook mechanisms that keep the files from being
opened by anyone other than the person who bought them.But once open, there are still ways to copy graphics, and if you merely password protect, people can give other people the password. Of course, people can photocopy a book, too. While the eBook security measures are promising, they're only going to apply in certain cases, not for information that's openly available on your site. HTML As far-fetched as it seems, your very HTML coding might help you protect your copyrights--especially if your would-be infringers are stupid. Here is an actual case e-mailed to me last week. Anybody recognize this fellow? Dear Copyright Maven, Last week, I learned that a recreation bear hunting site in Canada had stolen my www.will-harris.com/mankas design--lock, stock, background, and even copyright notice (though it changed the date to 1995!) What was worse was that the site had hired a "professional" Web development company to "design" it for them!I only knew about this (since I don't normally look for bear
hunting sites) because the idiots had also stolen my HTML and kept several links to graphics on my site, so when I ran a Web report, I found they were a "big referrer" and I went to see why. Sheesh! I sent them a very strongly worded e-mail, saying I expected to be paid for the design, and for the design to be removed, since I don't believe in bear hunting, not to mention my copyrights had been blatantly infringed. I said if I wasn't paid
after the 14th, I would bill them $100 a day for every day the site was up, and I went unpaid. Well, the site is down, but I still haven't been paid the fee I requested, and getting them to pay could easily cost me far more than I could get. Of course, I really never would have found it if they hadn't been such total idiots! --Signed, Singed, and infringed in the Redwoods And so you see, the seeds for tracking down some kinds of infringers might be found right within your own HTML. Of
course, if the thieves are smart, they won't leave these kinds of clues. Are these systems foolproof?
Apparently not. The latest buzz is that some new software products can actually counteract the best laid plans to protect your images from unauthorized copying. Take a good, long, sobering look at Fabien A. P. Petitcolas' Web site at the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, and
check out his first topic--The Information Hiding Home Page.Why is this guy smiling? Because it's all a cosmic joke--trying to preserve your copyrighted materials on the Web. Peticolas states: "StirMark is a software that will automatically alter watermarks created by Digimarc...UnZign alters the same watermarks as StirMark, but uses a different method." Go on to read what he says about SafeImage. It's not a reassuring picture. All over the world, companies with deep
pockets and ulterior motives are working to undo the work of those who would provide us with copyright protection systems for our Web sites. In addition to these "legitimate" companies, there are the hackers. I have the utmost respect for these people. They are brilliant in a way I shall never be. And if there is a way to beat the system, they will—or already have. I do not mean to alarm you. But if you really want to consider the importance and
value of your copyrighted images on your Web site, you must first think about your personal level of copyright-infringement aversion. And while I won't to tell you how to take someone else's work, there are quite simple ways to copy graphics no matter how it's protected. How to think about your copyrights in a world full of pirates Technology can only go so far in protecting the copyrights you place on images and words on your Web site. Ask yourself a few quick questions:- How much do I care about my copyrights?
- Do I mind it very much if another individual or company
uses my Web graphics on its site?
- Would I want to be paid for my copyrighted images if, say, Microsoft placed them on its site?
- How mad would I be at Microsoft if it did such a thing? Cease-and-desist-letter-mad? Litigation-mad?
- Or, do I say live and let live; it's all free information on the Web?
If you answered yes to No. 3 and litigation-mad to No. 4 then you had better not put your copyrighted intellectual property on your Web site. Not that I'm implying Microsoft would do such a heinous thing as I suggest in the questions. But don't put anything on the Web that you would not put on your front porch. If you answer yes to No. 5, then you have a very high tolerance for people downloading your copyrighted intellectual property and doing whatever they please with it and that's probably good for your blood pressure. If you are very copyright-infringement averse, you may want
to consider public-key encryption, limiting though it is. But consider this: It's art, not high finance, sensitive medical records, or atomic weaponry. We're talking pictures, images, objects to raise our souls from the drab mire of Philistinism. Truth. Beauty. And all that. Just how protected do your images really need to be? If you created these things, perhaps you really want to share them with the world, no matter how that happens. At least that's a good attitude to take when
someone takes your work. The plain fact is that technology may not provide the protection you crave for your copyrights. You have only to open your eyes a little bit to see the gorgeous and nauseating overabundance of images out there. Images are proliferating in mind-boggling densities. By the day, the hour, the nanosecond. Nobody will ever guard them all. Who will (or can) police this world of images breeding like germs? Who will
know about the artist who infringes? Or protect the artist who has been infringed? All you ever wanted to know about digital copyright protection Here is a bit of digital watermarking information available on the Internet. These sites are interesting and should provide you with more than enough information to help you make an educated decision about protecting your copyrights on your Web site.EIKONAmark: Watermarking Software for Copyright Protection of Digital Images. Responses to Digital Intellectual Property Rights USA: Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights in NII Canada: Study on New Media and
Copyright. Protection of Digital Information (Protection Sites to look at Protection definitions, meanings, approaches, and implications, digital watermarks, fingerprints, signatures). Imprimatur Project. Donald T. Hawkins, Digital Watermarking: Intellectual Property Protection for the Internet? AOL Computing¥s Webopaedia Definition and Links:
This page describes the term ''digital watermark'' and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information. PC Webopaedia Definition and Links: This page describes the term ''digital watermark'' and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information.
ZDNet Webopedia Definition and Links: This page describes the term ''digital watermark'' and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information.
Security & Related Books Security & Privacy Resources: For hundreds of more sites with copyright protection information, use this query string in your search: digital watermarks copyright protection.
Good hunting! 
About the author  Mary E. Carter is the author of Electronic Highway Robbery: An Artist's Guide to Copyrights in the Digital Era. She no longer maintains a Web site because she believes she cannot adequately control and protect her copyrighted materials on the Web. She
has returned to her original medium, plain old acrylic paint on canvas.
Illustrations: Tim Teebken for Artville
|
