[thelist] Hiding images (no right click?)

[the head lemur]

We keep presenting the wrong solutions to the problem.

If it shows in a browser it is available to be taken, borrowed, or stolen,
depending on how You regard the work you do.

Everything that shows up in your browser belongs to someone. Legally all
material is covered at the basic level by Copyright. Images can also be
covered by Trademark and Servicemark designations as well.

The problem is image theft. The solution is not Flash, applets, digimarcing,
or any other technological solution that breaks down when javascript or
active x are disabled in the user's browser. And we also provide workarounds
for any of these solutions. IE6 Presents you with a menu of options when you
mouse over images, which I have spoken about before.

The solution is not litigation, although the threat of it is effective in
certain cases. But here we are adding to the overhead by having to monitor
for theft and create a response scenario, whether we offer the service or it
is the client's responsibility.

Both of the above solutions add to the overhead in creating websites, and
does nothing to address the fundamental problem which is respect for the
property of others.

We have the 'freedom' to take images, code and entire sites.

We have the responsibility not to.

It does not matter if the image took 10 hours of agony to produce or 10
seconds. Unless you are the creator it is not yours.

Our belief in the glory and possibilities of the web, which is why a lot of
us publish, producing the large volume of work we make available and share
with others makes the distinction between sharing and theft a grey area that
needs some light.

A large part of the current quagmire is of our own making. We encourage
folks to view source, steal these icons, share code and experience, on the
web, in newsgroups and maillists.

We hope that people will enjoy our work, stimulate their creativity, build
and share from their own unique perspectives, rather than 'save as', 'cut
and paste' and publish as their own.

We publish for a million reasons, we share our hopes, our fears, we work to
build a better place for everyone. Will we expand the understanding of each
other, or will we put every lawyer on the planet to work?