I'll confess: my sensationalist title was written purely for shock value. In no way am I encouraging people to lift copyrighted works from websites.

In fact, my goal is to reduce this practice by debunking the myths so many photographers seem to believe. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time we were asked about disabling right-click or protecting images with a Flash website, well ... I'd be shooting a Hasselblad H3D for my next gig.

So, let me set the record straight: no website or proofing tool-regardless of Flash, HTML, right-click disabling, iFrames, or anything else-is going to protect your image or video from being taken by someone who wants it bad enough. As you can see in the short video below, all it takes is the Firebug plugin and 1 Terminal command on my Mac to download any web file.

Also keep in mind:

• Just because an image isn't big enough for a customer to print, doesn't mean another photographer won't lift it for their own portfolio. It's a sad commentary on the industry, but it's true.
• I know of more than a few cases where ignorant ad designers lifted images off blogs, websites, Google, and Flickr and used them in web campaigns.
• Don't be scared to put big images on your website. The impact far outweighs the risks. Vicent Laforet uses big images on his site-and he's better than you. He also has a smart copyright warning displayed before his site opens.

So how do I protect myself?

Good question. Because you can't promote yourself without putting images online, 100% protection from theft is probably impossible. However, here are some options to consider:

• Just don't take any pictures worth stealing. Not recommended because it often also prevents you from making any money
• Watermark your images. I recommend this for proofing, but not necessarily for your website (too distracting).
• Register your work with the copyright office.
• Be sure to place a copyright message on your website and set the appropriate license for your Flickr images.
• If you rely on print sales, don't blog sessions until after you've completed the ordering consultation with your clients. Especially true for high-school seniors.

If you have a story or suggestion, please leave a comment.