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The Right-Click Bandits

Is your site being robbed by the Right-Click Bandits?.

by PC Smart (July 30, 2004)

Right-click thievery is rampant on the Internet. Just place your mouse over an image, press the right-hand button, and voila, you have the opportunity to save the image, print it, email it, place it on your desktop, or use it as a background. You can find the images on manufacturers� websites, Internet store sites, personal sites, message boards, or through Google images.

Right-click thievery caused a stir on one major scrapbooking site when another site right-clicked its way through the scrap gallery, lifted the layouts of many scrappers, and placed them on its own site � with copyright notices. The outrage was understandable. Many scrappers who thought they were sharing their pages through their favorite message board site found their work turning up on this second site with a message that all images were copyrighted by the site owners. The owners of the first site were quick to respond; they contacted the offending site and then disabled the right-click option on all gallery layouts.

Sounds like a simple solution? Well, not really. The scrappers who frequent the site rely on the right click option to download thumbnails of pages that inspire them. (MAC users are not affected by the right-click ban; neither are Linux users.)

Another solution some sites have used is the watermark. The problem with watermarks is that they obscure the image sometimes to the point that the layout (project, product, or photo) cannot be clearly viewed. I have heard of scrappers who brag about downloading the images of a company�s new patterned paper and using it as their digital background for a computer generated layout.

Any image on the net, whether it is a logo, photo, design, or even text, can be right-clicked onto any hard drive. Although the images are usually 72 dpi and web optimized, that does not deter thieves from using them for their own purposes. Online auction sellers have pulled images from other sites to advertise their items. Small Internet retailers have lifted layouts to promote products they are selling. Scrapbookers (digital and traditional) have lifted photos for use in their layouts. Altered artists have downloaded images for their books.

Why is this a public fact? Because the Right Click Bandits publish their work, upload it to websites, and prominently display it in local stores. I have spoken to designers who have had images lifted and found them published in someone�s magazine project. The magazines have no way of knowing what is owned/lifted in designs. All they can do to protect themselves is have the artist sign a contract stating that they are the owners of all images or have permission to use such images.

While the use of home scanners has made copying images for "personal" use a common practice (this is a topic for another article, I am sure), the Right Click Bandits have the advantage of a world of information at their fingertips.

This isn�t just an industry problem, school systems are dealing with students who right-click their way to term papers. Right-clicking has become the Cliff Notes of the new generation. Why spend all that time writing a report when you can do an Internet search and cut/paste it all into your word processing program?

I would be interested to hear from companies and individuals who have dealt with right-click bandits. How did you become aware of the situation? How did you solve the problem? Did you have to resort to legal action or was it amicably resolved?

PC Smart can be contacted at pcsmart@bellsouth.net To read previous Tech Talk columns, click on the titles in the right-hand column.

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