How to tell if someone imported my site...

  • Thread starter Thread starter T.J. Warner
  • Start date Start date
T

T.J. Warner

Hi all!

I've seen some graphics of mine floating around the web. I'm not that
concerned as they weren't important, but still shocking to see hosted
elsewhere.

Is there any way to track to see if someone has imported my site? I've
checked server logs from my web hosting company, but it really just
tracks "basic" type of stuff.

Does anyone have any experience with getting more advanced information
from server logs?

Thanks in advance!
 
When a visitor comes to your web site, the images and content of your page
are cached in their browser. They can either right click the image to save
it, or retrieve it from the cache. It is not necessary to import your site.

In any case, any visitor's IP would be loged in the host log server, as is
every instanced of the html or image. You wouldn't have any way of telling
who specifically downloaded your image and put it on their site.

If you see the site that has your image, time to track down the owner/isp
and go from there.
--
===
Tom Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---
FrontPage Support:
http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
===
| Hi all!
|
| I've seen some graphics of mine floating around the web. I'm not that
| concerned as they weren't important, but still shocking to see hosted
| elsewhere.
|
| Is there any way to track to see if someone has imported my site? I've
| checked server logs from my web hosting company, but it really just
| tracks "basic" type of stuff.
|
| Does anyone have any experience with getting more advanced information
| from server logs?
|
| Thanks in advance!
 
I'm sure there are ways to track what people are downloading - for example
to the extent of how many times a file is downloaded ("download counters") ;
but not necessarily to personally identify the specific person doing it.

Every web site is downloaded to the user's computer in order to be viewed -
so the minute they view your page, it is on their PC. With the know-how,
they can dig through the temp internet files for the images they want.

Anyway, the basic web logs are designed as "stats" logs and save data such
as unique visitors, recurring visitors, and other info including browser
type, country, operating system version etc, but not necessarily telling you
that it was Joe Bloggs in Iowa as compared to Bill Bloggs in Massechuessets
(sp?) that took your pictures!

Are you in a business where people stealing graphics would be a concern - e
g selling artwork or photos online, where you want people to purchase them,
not just help themselves? In this case you can make thumbnail copies,
watermark them, use low quality versions for the "demo" versions, and sell
the high quality copies once payment is received. Of course this still
doesn't stop people putting them online themselves, even though you've
received payment.

I'm not saying the above is applicable to you, but that's the kind of thing
that is a FAQ on this group, and your question touches base on this subject
in part.
 
Just to add a bit and clarify Tom and Andrew's remarks: Unless your web site
disallows it (most do not), the visitors log in using the Anonymous Internet
user account. The server can keep track of IP addresses, but these are only
leased for a period of (at most) several days to any customer of an ISP,
with a few exceptions for those who need "parked" IP addresses. So, tracking
down who copied your content is not really going to be possible, unless (as
you have mentioned) you see it somewhere on the Internet. In that case, you
may be able to get them to remove it, but a court battle is unlikely to bear
fruit unless you have ensured that you can prove you were the original
author of the content via copyright, etc.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Chicken Salad Alchemist

I recycle.
I send everything back to the planet it came from.
 
....and prove damages. That's the difficult part of an infringement suit.


| Just to add a bit and clarify Tom and Andrew's remarks: Unless your web
site
| disallows it (most do not), the visitors log in using the Anonymous
Internet
| user account. The server can keep track of IP addresses, but these are
only
| leased for a period of (at most) several days to any customer of an ISP,
| with a few exceptions for those who need "parked" IP addresses. So,
tracking
| down who copied your content is not really going to be possible, unless
(as
| you have mentioned) you see it somewhere on the Internet. In that case,
you
| may be able to get them to remove it, but a court battle is unlikely to
bear
| fruit unless you have ensured that you can prove you were the original
| author of the content via copyright, etc.
|
| --
| HTH,
|
| Kevin Spencer
| Microsoft MVP
| Professional Chicken Salad Alchemist
|
| I recycle.
| I send everything back to the planet it came from.
|
| | > I'm sure there are ways to track what people are downloading - for
example
| > to the extent of how many times a file is downloaded ("download
counters")
| > ; but not necessarily to personally identify the specific person doing
it.
| >
| > Every web site is downloaded to the user's computer in order to be
| > viewed - so the minute they view your page, it is on their PC. With the
| > know-how, they can dig through the temp internet files for the images
they
| > want.
| >
| > Anyway, the basic web logs are designed as "stats" logs and save data
such
| > as unique visitors, recurring visitors, and other info including browser
| > type, country, operating system version etc, but not necessarily telling
| > you that it was Joe Bloggs in Iowa as compared to Bill Bloggs in
| > Massechuessets (sp?) that took your pictures!
| >
| > Are you in a business where people stealing graphics would be a
concern -
| > e g selling artwork or photos online, where you want people to purchase
| > them, not just help themselves? In this case you can make thumbnail
| > copies, watermark them, use low quality versions for the "demo"
versions,
| > and sell the high quality copies once payment is received. Of course
| > this still doesn't stop people putting them online themselves, even
though
| > you've received payment.
| >
| > I'm not saying the above is applicable to you, but that's the kind of
| > thing that is a FAQ on this group, and your question touches base on
this
| > subject in part.
| >
| > | >> Hi all!
| >>
| >> I've seen some graphics of mine floating around the web. I'm not that
| >> concerned as they weren't important, but still shocking to see hosted
| >> elsewhere.
| >>
| >> Is there any way to track to see if someone has imported my site? I've
| >> checked server logs from my web hosting company, but it really just
| >> tracks "basic" type of stuff.
| >>
| >> Does anyone have any experience with getting more advanced information
| >> from server logs?
| >>
| >> Thanks in advance!
| >
| >
|
|
 
T.J. Warner said:
Hi all!

I've seen some graphics of mine floating around the web. I'm not that
concerned as they weren't important, but still shocking to see hosted
elsewhere.

Is there any way to track to see if someone has imported my site? I've
checked server logs from my web hosting company, but it really just tracks
"basic" type of stuff.

Does anyone have any experience with getting more advanced information
from server logs?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Are they hotlinking to your graphics ..ie directly linking to the actual
graphic on your site? If so they are stealing your bandwidth... contact them
to get them to remove the graphic...

Tina


--

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http://frontpage-blog.com/ - FrontPage Blog
http://clarke-abstract-art.com/ - Original Abstract Pen and Ink Drawings
 
Massachusetts...
Andrew Murray said:
I'm sure there are ways to track what people are downloading - for example
to the extent of how many times a file is downloaded ("download counters")
; but not necessarily to personally identify the specific person doing it.

Every web site is downloaded to the user's computer in order to be
viewed - so the minute they view your page, it is on their PC. With the
know-how, they can dig through the temp internet files for the images they
want.

Anyway, the basic web logs are designed as "stats" logs and save data such
as unique visitors, recurring visitors, and other info including browser
type, country, operating system version etc, but not necessarily telling
you that it was Joe Bloggs in Iowa as compared to Bill Bloggs in
Massechuessets (sp?) that took your pictures!

Are you in a business where people stealing graphics would be a concern -
e g selling artwork or photos online, where you want people to purchase
them, not just help themselves? In this case you can make thumbnail
copies, watermark them, use low quality versions for the "demo" versions,
and sell the high quality copies once payment is received. Of course
this still doesn't stop people putting them online themselves, even though
you've received payment.

I'm not saying the above is applicable to you, but that's the kind of
thing that is a FAQ on this group, and your question touches base on this
subject in part.
Click to expand...
 
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