[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[Phil Stracchino]

On 02/04/10 08:06, Mark Benson wrote:
> On 4 Feb 2010, at 12:44, Phil Stracchino <alaric at metrocast.net> wrote:
> 
>> Meanwhile, a HUGE raspberry to Flickr for all-too-frequently using  
>> Flash
>> to display STATIC IMAGES.  :p
> 
> As a web designer myself I'd be intrequed to know if that's mostly  
> idiot flash annoys going ott or if it's people who are sick of having  
> their website images ripped off.

Not that a Flash wrapper will stop that.  If that is the reason, it's a
case of unrealistic expectations.  Copy protection DOES NOT WORK,
especially trivial copy protection.  (Bruce Schneier mentions it as an
aside on Internet anonymity:  http://lnk.nu/schneier.com/1658.html)

In fact, more often than not, copy protection is self-defeating because
it's more of an obstacle to people who just want to legitimately use or
view the "protected" content than it is to people who intend to steal
it.  (And the people who will go to the trouble to defeat copy
protection and steal your content weren't going to buy it anyway.)  So
not only does it not discourage people from stealing your content, it
discourages legitimate users from using it.  Flash to display static
image galleries is a good example; if I go to someone's photo gallery
and find I have to deal with Flash to view it, I just won't bother.  I
don't care that much about seeing it.

As Bruce has pointed out, people need to get used to the idea that if
you put images up on the public internet, and they're any good, PEOPLE
ARE GOING TO COPY THEM.  But, hey:  You put them up so that people would
see them, right?  Well, now, MORE people are going to see them.  If you
want people to know where they came from, add photo credit on the edge
of the frame.  If you can't be bothered to do that, either don't put
them online, or stop whining when people copy and forward them without
attribution.

(Commercial use is different, of course.  If someone steals your
copyrighted image and uses it for commercial purposes without your
permission, they deserve all you can get out of them in court for
copyright violation, as well as for being a stupid cheapskate.  But a
Flash wrapper's not going to stop them from doing that either.)


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.