Best way to protect images?

size them small at 72 dpi and 640x480 and only leave there 24 hours. That may help

If it is on the intenet people think they can steal anything .. I don't post kids on the internet.
To many nutzzzzz out here

 

The only other thing you could do that would have serious teeth is register them with the library of congress copyright office. It really is not hard to do or expensive. The monetary penalties to the offending parties are pretty huge. If you need more info I will try and find a link for you.
I look forward to seeing some of your work and your children.
dave

 

Embed them in Flash - a person has to do a screen capture to try and get the image if it's embedded.

 

I post images of my family quite often, and there are quite a few on my web site. So far as I know nobody has ever stolen an image from me. But who knows?

But what I do know is that I will never live in fear. If we do that then the worst of us win. How far do you go? Never take your children out in public? That's not a direction I would ever go in. My job is to teach my children how to be a part of that world.

Yes, I would be horrified then dangerously angry if anyone ever tried to exploit my children. But I just can't tolerate a world where good people hide and people with a broken sense of right and wrong ruin it for all.

I would say I am a protective parent, but not a hidden one.

 

I also meant to say very sorry to hear you had that happen to you. I can't begin to imagine how upsetting it was.

 

actually sothink swf catcher will eliminate any protection from flash embedding, Aswell a lot of other programs do the same thing, All in all without a huge watermark that detracts from the picture nothing is perfectly safe.

I don't really find it a problem myself, I never watermark images cause IMO it makes them look bad, IF someone really wants the (usually 30% sized) digital that badly, then they can have it, I will always have a full resolution backup on my computer if it came down to a copywright fight.

 

Sorry for your bad experience. There isn't really a way to stop people from stealing images that are publically viewable. Period. Anyone with moderate technical ability can easily... like candy from a baby, steal your image. If they are determined and somewhat technically capable, they will steal it.

It sounds like your forum was popular for parents and the guy who stole it knew this. You could try to avoid high profile sites, because it's a lot like putting up your kids' pictures on billboards by major highways with a digital image dispenser.