Vincent Lowe Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 Whilst checking whose hotlinking to my website I came across two websites which have hotlinked to the same image on my site. However, the text on the pages seems to be just garbled nonsense. http://dallumfabrications.co.uk/Images/alphin-pike http://lucidlimos.com/alphin-pike What's the point of these pages - am I missing something? Mine's the sunset - fourth one down on the second link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrioticAlien Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 If I was you, I would email the companies and ask them, then take it from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Smart Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I would say that someone has hacked into both sites, and placed the images and gibberish in the sites. Why, I do not know. Awhile back, I found one of my images on a UK site and it was found that someone had hacked the site and place a whole load of similar images to mine. You would probably find that the owners of the site are unaware of the hacking. Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Lots of apparently random words designed to draw visitors via search engines. Usually pages like these are either trying to sell something via their own links or spread a virus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I would certainly contact the website owner, it does look hacked and they may well not be aware. I had a problem with hotlinking from my site some time ago but not onto a hacked site - I just changed the settings so any hotlinked image now displays the words 'I am an image thief' they usually soon disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 +1 for hacked - for whatever purposes the hacker may have in mind long-term. Most likely just a script kiddie playing about or experimenting. Get in touch with the site owner and let them know that Copyright theft is taking place (from multiple sources) and that they are ultimately responsible for their site's security That the security of their site and potentially that of visitors to their site is at risk The Wordpress theme that they are using (Blakesley) does not appear to be secure, (they are using the latest version and there is therefore no option to update) and they should consider hiring a decent Web developer to do the job for them, rather than buying something off-the-peg from an Iranian site. If they know what they are doing, (extremely doubtful), then review the security for the WP template they have purchased. Apologies to any Iranian Web developers out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 It hasn't been hacked. It's been swiped form using Save Image As from an Inspect Element on your website. Or just swiped from google images.My guess is that whoever registered the domain on GoDaddy is someone looking to get into webdesign and was using the page on a training course or something.There is no sinister code on their site and it's just full of random text that you can generate using any test randomiser. Loren Ipsum text is usually used to fill in paragraphs but anything can be used. Any cookies that are being used are flickr based too.So my assumption is that it's just someone curious about web design, has searched the net for images,Another theory is that it was written in another language and a really bad translation has taken place and it's just been copied in. There is no google code in the site either so it's just a bare HTML page.You can't contact the website owner as they are unlisted in a WHOIS search of the domain name, hence why I thought its just a curious web designer ( I think they need to do more training)PaulAs you can see below, the second link is using the exact code from the first. They are using the JPGS straight from the webserver. It's fairly common. The only way to protect against this is to watermark your webserver images. There is absolutely no way to prevent this and the only deterent is to watermark. It's an imstant turn off for image theft. Also nothing that can be cloned out in PS too easily too. http://www.lowefoto.co.uk/latest2/061111-25.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Lowe Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks for the comments. I've emailed the companies - I'll let you know what they say (assuming I get a reply). Edit - posted before seeing Paul's reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks for the comments. I've emailed the companies - I'll let you know what they say (assuming I get a reply). Someone copied an image that the express licensed from me. This person copied the exact story with text and everything. I did some research on the domain and I emailed the provider who dissolved all responsibility for it. I then did more digging and got an email address for the owner. I sent a take down notice everyday to them. The page has now gone, but it was hard work to get anyone to take ownership for the theft. In your case, this is pure theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyAppleRed Images Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I also had an image from Flickr used on a similar website and the text is all that weird Loren Ipsum stuff. (elephant pic in the link below) http://www.fasteddie.co.uk/index.html I got IPP to look at it for me and they reckoned it was much as Paul says above - someone experimenting with web design or a company that never got off the ground. I have kept an eye on it and as far as I can see it has never gone "live". Doubt it is worth doing much more digging unless it does go live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I also had an image from Flickr used on a similar website and the text is all that weird Loren Ipsum stuff. (elephant pic in the link below) http://www.fasteddie.co.uk/index.html I got IPP to look at it for me and they reckoned it was much as Paul says above - someone experimenting with web design or a company that never got off the ground. I have kept an eye on it and as far as I can see it has never gone "live". Doubt it is worth doing much more digging unless it does go live. They have actually stolen a 300x260 copy of yours an plonked it right in their images folder of their site. It's not referencing anything else. So on the face of it, they have that image on their webserver. A quick look also shows no author on a Who is search, however in the metatags of their website there is the name "Erwin Aligam" A quick search of that name pulls up the name of a web designer from the Philippines He makes CCS style sheets for people and sells them. *edit** On further checking, THIS template was made by Erwin Aligam, and I think was bought by someone and used for this Fast Eddie inc site. The author of the Fast Eddie site has taken the image as its not on the template. Difficult one to track down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyAppleRed Images Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Thanks Paul, I'll drop him a little note! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kensplace Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I love it when a website hotlinks any of my images direct from my server, well I hate them doing it, but love the fact I can do something about it. I check who is requesting the image, and if its a site I know is stealing then I serve up a nice picture of dog dirt or similar instead of the real pic. Works a treat usually, as soon as the website realises their webpage is full of the wrong images, they sharp wise up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Especially in my case - Life's too Short....... A compliance company who I will not name 'cos some folk get a bit uptight - based in the US has dealt with fifteen cases of infringement in the last two weeks - in twelve cases they informed me that the cases were not worth pursuing and they told me why. In one case they have submitted a provisional claim for in excess of $700 - and in the other two cases they have final Settlement Release Agreements awaiting the cheques. I have not had to chase the companies involved or get involved in lengthy sessions of "Prove it is your Copyright" or, "We got it from Google"........ The art is in picking your battles and not wasting time and effort on lost causes - you can raise your blood pressure to unhealthy levels and just end up feeling ill done by........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Super How did you change settings on your site so any hotlinked image displays the words "I am an image thief?" I would certainly contact the website owner, it does look hacked and they may well not be aware. I had a problem with hotlinking from my site some time ago but not onto a hacked site - I just changed the settings so any hotlinked image now displays the words 'I am an image thief' they usually soon disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Ann, my web host has a little function that prevents hotlinking, but you can also use a .htaccess file, it just needs a little script adding that redirects hotlinks to another image that you create with any text you want the hotlinkers to read. This code generator will probably work http://www.htaccesstools.com/hotlink-protection/ but there are loads of instructions on google with the script included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Thank you, Callie! and your Berlin Festival of Lights photos - Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 thanks Ann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulstw Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Ann, my web host has a little function that prevents hotlinking, but you can also use a .htaccess file, it just needs a little script adding that redirects hotlinks to another image that you create with any text you want the hotlinkers to read. This code generator will probably work http://www.htaccesstools.com/hotlink-protection/ but there are loads of instructions on google with the script included. Very good point that. Also worth noting that it's worth checking that your hosts are running Linux servers and not Windows, as htaccess files don't work on Windows Servers IIS is a fickle system indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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