Best Way to Prevent Image Scraping? - GoFuckYourself.com

XSAXS · 01-18-2013, 08:43 PM

Building a new picture post site (of sorts). Wondering if there are any solid strategies to diminish the effectiveness of image scraper bots?

It seems preventing non-browser agents is a waste of time because bots can mimic any browser they want.

I'd rather not hash all the file paths, as that seems like it would be a huge added burden on the server.

So if we're still allowed to talk about business here... I'm fishing for ideas.

Supz · 01-18-2013, 08:44 PM

use videos.

pornmasta · 01-18-2013, 08:57 PM

swf format for pictures ?
some javascript that clocks the real source code ?

acctman · 01-19-2013, 01:42 AM

can't stop screenshots... just watermark the image and be done with it

JamesM · 01-19-2013, 01:46 AM

idk if this would work or not, but this same techniques is used to prevent video files hotlinking in many big tubes.

lighttpd with token for images serving.

DWB · 01-19-2013, 05:12 AM

While screen recording is a royal pain in the ass and time consuming for videos, it literally takes 1 second to do it for a photo.

As it was said before, watermark it in a good place (randomly perhaps) and move on.

fris · 01-19-2013, 09:44 AM

if it was hotlinking i would say htaccess, im sure something can be done to stop curl or wget

mafia_man · 01-19-2013, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acctman

can't stop screenshots... just watermark the image and be done with it

This....

XSAXS · 01-19-2013, 12:48 PM

As stated in the original post -- I'm specifically focused on IMAGE SCRAPER BOTS. I'm not at all worried about the average user who wants to save individual images to his hard drive.

Of course I know there's no bullet-proof method to prevent someone saving images. That's not the point. (!)

I just want to prevent robo site-ripping. Or at least make it such a pain in the ass that the ripper will move on to some other site instead.

I'm looking into throttling back the allowed page views -- allow only 30 page views per minute. The average surfer would never reach that threshold, but it would frustrate a lot of scrapers.

Also... serving the largest-sized images with javascript instead of the usual <img src""> would discourage most scrapers.

I'd also love to build a killer bot trap... I'm reading up on http://projecthoneypot.org right now.

fris · 01-19-2013, 12:51 PM

i would use tokens, mod_auth_token is good, so it generates a fresh url every x amount of seconds or mins.

XSAXS · 01-19-2013, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fris

i would use tokens, mod_auth_token is good, so it generates a fresh url every x amount of seconds or mins.

Hmm. I've never heard of mod_auth_token. Fris. Will read up on it right now. Thank you for the pointer.

fris · 01-19-2013, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XSAXS

Hmm. I've never heard of mod_auth_token. Fris. Will read up on it right now. Thank you for the pointer.

http://code.google.com/p/mod-auth-token/

here you go ;)

XSAXS · 01-19-2013, 01:20 PM

Yep, reading it now. Thanks again, Fris. Have you used it?

fris · 01-19-2013, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XSAXS

Yep, reading it now. Thanks again, Fris. Have you used it?

yes i have used it, i also use my own expiring script which does the same thing.

01-18-2013, 08:43 PM	#1
XSAXS Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 651	Best Way to Prevent Image Scraping? Building a new picture post site (of sorts). Wondering if there are any solid strategies to diminish the effectiveness of image scraper bots? It seems preventing non-browser agents is a waste of time because bots can mimic any browser they want. I'd rather not hash all the file paths, as that seems like it would be a huge added burden on the server. So if we're still allowed to talk about business here... I'm fishing for ideas.

01-19-2013, 01:46 AM	#5
JamesM Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 732	idk if this would work or not, but this same techniques is used to prevent video files hotlinking in many big tubes. lighttpd with token for images serving. __________________ Ex GF Films \| Grab Dollars Up To 80% Rev-Share \| 255 Day Cookie \| Legal Content \| Variety of Promo Tools \| CCBill Program \| GF Niche james[at]grabdollars[dot]com \| ICQ::611-99-zero-zero-20

01-19-2013, 09:44 AM	#7
fris Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 55,290	if it was hotlinking i would say htaccess, im sure something can be done to stop curl or wget __________________ Since 1999: 69 Adult Industry awards for Best Hosting Company and professional excellence. WP Stuff

01-19-2013, 12:51 PM	#10
fris Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 55,290	i would use tokens, mod_auth_token is good, so it generates a fresh url every x amount of seconds or mins. __________________ Since 1999: 69 Adult Industry awards for Best Hosting Company and professional excellence. WP Stuff

01-18-2013, 08:44 PM	#2
Supz Arthur Flegenheimer Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: New York City Posts: 11,056	use videos.

01-18-2013, 08:57 PM	#3
pornmasta Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 18,997	swf format for pictures ? some javascript that clocks the real source code ?

01-19-2013, 01:42 AM	#4
acctman Confirmed User Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Atlanta Posts: 2,840	can't stop screenshots... just watermark the image and be done with it

01-19-2013, 05:12 AM	#6
DWB Registered User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Encrypted. Access denied. Posts: 31,779	While screen recording is a royal pain in the ass and time consuming for videos, it literally takes 1 second to do it for a photo. As it was said before, watermark it in a good place (randomly perhaps) and move on.

01-19-2013, 12:48 PM	#9
XSAXS Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 651	As stated in the original post -- I'm specifically focused on IMAGE SCRAPER BOTS. I'm not at all worried about the average user who wants to save individual images to his hard drive. Of course I know there's no bullet-proof method to prevent someone saving images. That's not the point. (!) I just want to prevent robo site-ripping. Or at least make it such a pain in the ass that the ripper will move on to some other site instead. I'm looking into throttling back the allowed page views -- allow only 30 page views per minute. The average surfer would never reach that threshold, but it would frustrate a lot of scrapers. Also... serving the largest-sized images with javascript instead of the usual <img src""> would discourage most scrapers. I'd also love to build a killer bot trap... I'm reading up on http://projecthoneypot.org right now.

01-19-2013, 01:20 PM	#13
XSAXS Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 651	Yep, reading it now. Thanks again, Fris. Have you used it?