How to protect content from copying. How to protect content from copying (theft)? Copy protection how to

Every owner of a web resource sooner or later has a question about how to protect content from theft. And this is quite natural. After all, filling the pages of a web resource, with high-quality text in particular, is not so cheap. Agree that it's not so nice to see content on someone else's site that you personally created or paid for.

Content protection can be relevant especially in cases where when "Site-thief" indexed by search engines much faster Your resource. This can lead to the fact that its pages will be recognized as a source, and you will be caught in copying, and even "Punished"downgrade.

So that such troubles do not happen to you, you need to know how to protect the content of the site from theft and secure copyright for yourself.

Protecting the uniqueness of site content

To some, this may seem unrealistic. After all, as they say, "Who wants to - he will steal" ... Indeed, protecting web content is not easy. There is no method that can help protect the content of the site 100%. Even if direct copying of the text is impossible, you can always rewrite.

But let's not go to extremes and panic in advance. In most cases, in order to protect the text content of the site from copying, You will need to learn 5 really effective ways.

Method number 1. Protecting content programmatically

Surely you have come across sites on which copying text is impossible. On them, the protection of web content is arranged in such a way that nothing happens when you select text and try to call the context menu.

Therefore, there is no possibility to choose in it "Copy"... A familiar combination Ctrl + C is also not works in such cases.

You can also protect content from theft in this way. Such a wish should be announced to the programmer working on your site. It will not be difficult for an experienced professional to protect site content in this way.

Method number 2. Adding a link

Another option for how to protect content from copying, you can also set up an experienced programmer. He just needs to make sure that when borrowing text from the pages of your web resource at the end the page address was programmatically addedwith which it is taken and a couple of words indicating this.

In most cases, a person who steals content simply does not notice such an addition and publishes the text in this form on his web resource.

As a result, such protection of content uniqueness will give you a free external link, and visitors to the thief site will know where the information came from and may even follow the link at the end of the text, which will give you a small influx of traffic.

Method number 3. Authorship confirmation in Yandex.Webmaster

Similar to the previous method, this one will help protect content from copying only within Yandex.
Everything is arranged a little differently here. In the Webmaster section "Information about the site" choose a service "Original texts" and upload the texts written but not yet uploaded to the site.

When such an application is processed, it will be possible to publish the article on the pages of your web resource and be sure that Yandex will take your side in the event of unpleasant incidents of content theft.

Method number 4. Relinking

To avoid this, you can resort to some tricks. You need to speed up indexing of new pages web resource. This will not be able to protect the content from theft, but it will give search engines to understand who is the author and who is the thief.

To speed up indexing:

1. Add the URL of the new page to your sitemap.xml file;

1. Use social media. Post to Twitter or Facebook with a link to the new page;

1. Set up internal linking on the site. For example, a link from the main page of the site can speed up the indexing of a new page.

Summing up ...

It is becoming very clear that it is possible to protect content from copying, but this does not always work.

Well, do not forget that the likelihood of stealing content from your site is not so great if it is not super-promoted. Therefore, take it easy and focus on promoting your web resource to the desired TOP.

Sometimes you need to protect information on the site from copying. In particular, so that other sites do not use your unique content written by you. But! In principle, protection of the content sent by the server to the client is not possible. Everything that the browser has uploaded to itself, you can take everything. You can only create inconvenience when copying content. This will be discussed in the article.

Here's one "iron" way to protect your content:

1. Don't post text and images 🙂

Jokes aside, this is one surefire way to protect content.

Consider ways to create inconvenience when copying content (text, image):

1. For the required HTML element with the protected text inside, set the unselectable attribute to the value "on". (“On” - enable prohibition of selection, “off” - disable prohibition of selection).

IE, Op (ban works in these browsers)

- FF, Chrome, Safari (doesn't work)
Dalle in the text the plus sign means that it works, the minus sign means that it does not work.
Everything was checked on the following browsers:
Firefox 3.5.10 - FF
Internet Explorer 6 - IE
Opera 9.64 - Op
Chrome 4.1
Safari 4.0.
All browsers for Windows.

2. Another way is to cover the content on top with transparent graphics. Then the selection of the text will be impossible and the context menu will be related to this transparent image.

An example of such a block

protected text

Works in all browsers
3. Set the oncontextmenu event handler to return false.

for instance

document.getElementById ("id_protected_element"). oncontextmenu \u003d function () (return false;)

When the event handler returns false, the event is not executed. This event fires when the user right-clicks on an item to invoke the context menu. As a result, you can deny access to the "Copy" item of the context menu. But! There is a main menu and Ctrl + C has not been canceled.

FF, IE, Chrome, Safari

In fact, an unnecessary method, since there are "hot" keys.

4. The oncopy event. As in the previous paragraph, set the return false in the event handler. This event occurs when data is buffered. Return false does not fit the data into the buffer.

FF, IE, Chrome, Safari

5. The onselectstart event. Same as in the previous paragraphs. This event fires when the user starts a selection.

IE, Chrome, Safari

As you can see, in different browsers it can be done in different ways. But for it to work in all browsers, you need to apply several methods, and this is the 1st, 4th and 5th at the same time. There is no point in using method 3, since you can copy everything using hot keys.

If you dream up, you can come up with

a few more ways:

1. Show everything as a picture 🙂

2. Use Flash

3. Insert invisible inserts like

When copying such text in all browsers (except Opera), the text will be copied with these inserts and the thief will need to clear this text.

4. You can provide content to users who have paid for access to this content 🙂

Putting all sorts of intrigues to content thieves, you need to realize how much time you will spend on this non-100% protection and how much time will be spent by the one who wants to take this content, and if he wants, he will take it. In most cases, such protections work on inexperienced users or lazy users.

Since the invention of writing, humanity began to transfer personal, state and universal secrets to suitable material carriers. As soon as the ancestors were not sophisticated in that the texts were not read through the eyes of others. The most ancient and demanded method of protection by right is a cryptogram (translated from Greek means "secret writing"). For example, the sacred Jewish texts were encrypted by the replacement method - instead of the first letter of the alphabet, the last letter was written, instead of the second - the penultimate, etc. This ancient cipher is called Atbash.

Steps were also taken to protect transmitted secret messages from interception and spoofing. Usually, armed guards were used for this, but they did not refuse alternative methods - they frightened with God's anger and ancient curses, which was very effective for those years.

People have come up with a myriad of ways to protect paper documents from copying and editing (substitution). Some of them moved to digital, and some were invented specifically to protect electronic documents.

Why protect documents from copying and editing

Basically, copy and edit protection is required for working documents in DOCX and PDF formats. Analytical agencies, design institutes and other information product companies provide research results in a secure format to prevent unauthorized use and distribution. It is also important for business to provide protection against spoofing - to reduce risks, you need to ensure that the document will remain unchanged forever.

However, copy and edit protection can be useful for personal purposes as well, for example, when creating a book, a training course, or providing consulting services. That is, such functionality can be useful to anyone who develops smart products and wants to control their distribution.

Protection of electronic documents DOC and PDF today

Let's take a quick look at the most common methods.

Marking

You can put information on a document that it has a special status and cannot be edited or copied. Sometimes the marking is made invisible in order to identify the "mole" - the source of the leak. In a simple implementation, a point in the document is put in different places and it is tracked which variant "pops up". An improved option is the use of specialized hardware and software systems in conjunction with the MFP, which allow you to change the spacing and font size individually for each copy of the document. Such protection is reactive in nature, that is, it allows you to identify the culprit upon detection of the incident. Next, we will look at methods that are proactive.

Password

The most common and accessible to everyone way to protect electronic documents from unauthorized access is to set a password for the document or archive. This is usually done by the built-in tools of the program, for example, in the Acrobat application you can restrict editing, copying content and printing (link to instructions). But you need to take into account the following - the file itself can be copied, and if you post a document and password protected in this way on the Internet, then everyone can easily open it.

Access by digital key (flash drive)

The method is based on the user's physical key (flash drive or SD card) to decrypt the document. There is a flash drive - there is access. That is, the file can be copied, but the copy cannot be opened without a certain physical medium. This solves the problem of unauthorized distribution, but with limitations. Firstly, a USB flash drive or SD card costs money, and, secondly, it is necessary to ensure the delivery of this item to the user, which increases the cost and makes it difficult to exchange documents online. Thirdly, the user will always have to have this key with him, and, fourthly, any technique tends to break down - and you will need to negotiate a warranty period and provide replacement in case of breakdown.

Access rights management system

This method of document protection is mainly used for corporate users based on Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS). AD RMS-protected documents are encrypted and the author can set permissions for those who can access the files.

List of possible restrictions on rights:

• Reading, changing, printing.
• Document validity period.
• Prohibit email forwarding.
• Prevent the printing of an email.

But what if the document just needs to be sent to an external addressee?

Combined methods of document protection

All of the above methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Document security vendors are constantly working to combine strengths in one solution. This combination seems ideal:

• providing access to the document by password, which can be sent by e-mail or dictated by phone;
• binding to a unique material medium, but so that it does not need to be additionally purchased and delivered to the end user;
• management of access rights over the Internet, so that you can grant and revoke access to a file in real time;
• displaying special labels on the document to indicate a special distribution mode.

As a result, a user's computer or mobile device can be used as a unique material medium, for example, the operating system and processor have their own serial numbers that cannot be faked. This will allow you to control the number of copies of the protected document.

Internet Rights Management provides DRM. When creating a password, access parameters are set: on how many devices you can open a document, how long access will be valid, is it possible to quickly revoke access. When the password is activated, all specified restrictions are applied.

Tags by themselves do not provide protection, but they allow detecting a leak from a digital fingerprint, since a unique combination of numbers and letters is formed for each user, which is displayed on the document.

Now on the market there are several professional solutions based on combined methods to protect electronic documents from copying and leakage. Having analyzed several options, I propose to get acquainted with the services SFContent.com and SFLetter.com.

SFContent.com

Professional online document protection service that includes DRM, linking to the user's device, watermarks and serial numbers (instead of passwords). This site offers services on a paid basis, but there is free testing. If you need to provide access to files for no more than 14 days, then you can use only test serial numbers, each time opening a new space (project) in your account.

If 14 days is not enough, then you can purchase a license for 30 days. Its price includes 10 serial numbers with an unlimited period of use. The license grants the right to transform files into a protected format. When the license expires, the files will remain in a protected form, and the serial numbers will continue to work, but in order to transform new files into a protected format, you need to purchase a license renewal or a license for a new project.

In general, the solution is decent and really allows you to provide copy protection and editing for documents in PDF, DOCX and a number of others. If you have any questions, an online chat is set up on the sfcontent.com website.

SFLetter.com

The developers of this service have taken care of the users a little more than necessary. They created not only a tool for reliable protection of documents from copying and editing, but also a full-fledged e-mail, so that you can be sure that your data will fly to the recipient in integrity and safety.

The main functionality of the service is available for free, such functions as revoking access to a letter, setting a timer for viewing, sending from your own domain name are provided as part of paid tariff plans. Ideal for paid mailings. The simplicity of the interface hides serious security technologies, but you don't need to think about them - put a tick and the letter with the document is protected and sent to the address list. If you are a Responsible Privacy Writer, this is the place for you.

If we talk about the disadvantages of this solution, then to view it, you need to install a viewer program by analogy with PDF. It is available for all platforms except Linux.

Protecting documents from copying and editing always imposes restrictions on their use. It is important to maintain a balance between convenience, security and cost.

This problem still poses a threat to blogs. And the fault of this is imperfect search engines, which have so far not learned to determine for sure who is the true author of this or that article! Shame and shame on them :)

The problem of hacking is no less urgent, two articles with security tips have been written about this on the blog.

Why is content theft happening?

• there are govnosites selling links that need any content, not necessarily unique, the main thing is that links can be inserted into it. After all, the promotion and quality of these sites is not so important, since they are already spammed with links.
• someone may like your article, and he (perhaps not suspecting that it is harmful) copies it to another resource
• novice bloggers may not be aware that success cannot be achieved without unique content and copy everything to their site.
• maybe your competitors decided to spite or take revenge ... :)

There are many methods of combating content theft, I will try to highlight the most effective and real ones.

Ways to protect text from copying on the site:

Well, then it may happen that the search engine will index the article on a third-party resource faster, and after that it will go to yours and consider you a copy-paste. But even in the opposite case, there is nothing good in the fact that your article will hang somewhere else and even without a link to you. Let's see how you can reduce risks and protect content from copying.

Speed \u200b\u200bup the indexing of your site

You wrote an article, it was immediately stolen from you and posted on a site that is indexed faster than yours. This means that the search engine will quickly go to that site and consider him the author of your article. And you - copy-paste. And for this you can get! And after the article is indexed, there is nothing to be afraid of. But it's still not pleasant that someone insolently presents your beautiful creation as their own.

Alert search engines about your authorship

Sometimes a quick indexing of the site does not help. There are services that automatically steal your articles from your RSS feed as soon as you publish them. In this case, Yandex Webmaster has a function "Original texts". Every time before you publish a text, add it to the Webmaster and Yandex will know that you are the author.

This is done simply: go to the Webmaster, section "Site content" -> "Original texts" -> "Add new text".

Google also has the ability to confirm authorship, but more on that in a separate article.

Monitor the uniqueness of articles - manually or using a plugin

You can track the uniqueness manually, which is very long. For this, there are services like text.ru, which will immediately show the site that stole your article. If your site is completely copied by someone, you will see it. But if only one article was stolen, this method is unlikely to help find it.

There is a Posts Compare find Plagiat WordPress plugin that automatically searches the internet for your stolen articles. It will save you a lot of time, but there is also a drawback - this plugin consumes an incredible amount of resources, which your hoster will certainly inform you about. Alternatively, activate it only occasionally to check, and then deactivate it.

Standard - use the search name "Posts Compare find Plagiat". After activating the plugin, go to the section "Parameters" -> "Posts Compare"... You can check the box

Now the fun part, for the plugin to work, you need to configure Crone on the server. There is nothing complicated about it, I will show you how it is done on my hosting. If you can't do it on your own, contact the hosting technical support.

Go to the Crone section (task scheduler) and add a new task: php-script execution..php.
Next, set the frequency of the task - every minute.

Now go back to the options section, there will start to appear plagiarism search results.

To catch and "punish" thieves

Following the previous tip, you have found several sites that have stolen content from you. What to do next?

First of all, write them very polite letters asking them to delete the copied texts. There is no need to threaten and show aggression, it is quite possible that the person did not want to harm you and will gladly delete the article at your request (I have done this more than once).

If the site administrator does not want to remove your content or you did not receive a response at all, you can take action. Send complaints to the domain registrar or hoster of this site. You can try to contact search engines, although as practice shows, they are unlikely to answer.

If you have copied the entire site, use a ready-made example of a complaint to the hosting company, you can download it by. Often these letters help, although it all depends on the hosting.

If not one of the methods yielded results, you can even go to court. They say that cases involving copyright infringement are easily won :) But I have no such experience, so I will not advise anything.

Automatically add a link to your site when copying

It is difficult to call it a means of protecting against copying content, but nevertheless, if they copy, then at least they put a link to you! The link will be added to the clipboard automatically when you copy the text.

To do this, edit your theme file header.php - "Header". If you're a complete beginner and don't know how to do this, read on. You need to insert the following code before the closing tag: