Bandwidth/Image Theft

Post by **Elwing** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:46 am

Hmm, thanks for the tips, I have tried that, but as soon as I uploaded the script in the main directory of my site the whole site went down with an "access forbidden" message. I have no time right now to look into this further, but I will try again this evening!
So far at least, thanks very much for all this wonderful info.

Post by **Elwing** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:51 am

test, test...

BAMFCentral · Post by **BAMFCentral** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:18 pm

Stupid Microsoft.... Finally found a solution for my site, but it involves continued maintanence. Microsoft once supported, or at least had, an option to block hot linking. However, it didn't work. Subsequent versions of IIS no longer offered the option. I like their idea of a solution .

can't make it work don't figure it out, just don't offer the option anymore....... Ingoring the problem obviously makes it go away....

I now have my site programed to look at a speicific file that lists out my image directories. When displaying an image on the site each page verifies the new image directory name and then spits out the correct link to the image..... It sounds interesting, but is really very stupid and boring. This doesn't prevent hot linking. However, on a monthly basis I simply change the name of my image folders and anyone hotlinking to me now has broken links. So the only benefit I get is that hopefully they soon get annoyed w/ this as I am and stop hotlinking to me.

Ran into several sites yesterday, hotlinking to pictures in my gallery and using them as their background wallpaper.

Post by **Elwing** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:35 pm

Ran into several sites yesterday, hotlinking to pictures in my gallery and using them as their background wallpaper.

I grief for thee...And the worst bit is, most of these kids don't even realize they are destroying your site.

Post by **Elwing** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:18 pm

Sorry to bother you all, but in spite of going trough the moves carefully (and I also have this graphic in a .jpg or .jpe version) I can't get anything but an "access denied" message out of it. Where did I go wrong? I put the file in the main html folder of my site, and it is run by Ensim WEBppliance Pro 3.5.21-10.
I've tried the help files, but they only tell me about password protecting folders. and that is not the idea here.
Any suggestions?

Nightcrawler ZERO · Post by **Nightcrawler ZERO** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 6:02 am

Originally posted by Elwing
Aye. Sometimes, when I feel bitchy, I go trough my access logs and pick out the bandwidth thieves. Then I find the picture in question, rename it, relink it on my site, and then post something really nasty under the old file name.

<-this is the nicest one.

Labor intensive, but so satisfying.
the short of it is, don't hotlink to my site, ok?

My sister does the exact same thing- then afterwards, she reports the bandwith theif to thier server for posting "questionable material" in violation of their user agreement, getting them dleted. She only does this to sites that jerk her around about the issue for extended periods of time.... but I found it funny to read this post for that very reason.

Post by **Elwing** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 4:43 pm

Heh, I just found that somebody on a hardcore porn board uses a huge image from my site as an avatar...That renders the "questionable material" tactic useless. I think I will switch it for a graphic reading "impotent imbecile" once I cn get my self to invest the energy...

Post by **HoodedMan** » Wed Jul 27, 2005 7:14 pm

Haha, that's a great idea. Did you have to go to the site to see how it was being used? If so, I pity you. :x

Post by **Elwing** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 3:55 pm

oh yes I did, and it was pretty awful. I mean, that page just took forever to load, I wonder why;)
nah, it was just used as an avatar. Mind you, this is one of the more homoerotic images I have seen- it is one of the second miniseries covers, showing nighty in green with a lot of hands

Post by **Elwing** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 3:45 pm

I spent a vengeful hour replacing 3 much stolen images with a "bandwidth thief" graphic. It is amazing how an avatar image sucks away bandwidth. one particular image, and it was only 50 kb, was reponsible for about 60% of my bandwidth use. I swear, someday I will figure out how to do a script against this...

CurlyyHairGirl · Post by **CurlyyHairGirl** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:16 pm

I though this might apply to this thread....

Why are all of the images such as smilies and other images all replaced by BandWidth Thief images with a little police car on them, or is my computer really screwed up?

Is anyone else seeing this?

Thu Aug 11, 2005 7:26 pm

Please tell me if you are still seeing it, CHG (or a new, blinking graphic that says "Stolen Image"). If you are, then you most likely have some sort of spyware/adware on your computer that is sending a Referer: header from its home site or some such. Try using a different browser and see what happens.

I just put in a new hotlinking prevention system; all our old ones were turned off because they did not allow exceptions, while this new one does. What URL are you using to access the site? If you continue to have this problem, please U2U me and I'll help you as much as I can.

Thank you,
-Technical Administrator

buri103 · Post by **buri103** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:59 pm

I'm getting that too (stolen image) . You say it's my spyware?

*Whines a little*

Can anyone help me fix this?...

The blinking is getting to me...

Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:03 am

Please answer the following questions:

1.) What URL do you see in your titlebar accessing this site?
2.) What browser are you using?
3.) What operating system are you using?
4.) Do you have firewalls or "internet security" software installed?

Include any more detail you possibly can, and see if another browser makes any change. If so, please note so. I can't imagine why this would be happening; I've tested it in every browser on my machine and from many different URLs.

Thank you,
-Technical Administrator

CurlyyHairGirl · Post by **CurlyyHairGirl** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:09 am

I just switched to my mothers screen name on aol and typed in www.nightscrawlers.com/forum and I got here just fine, no wierd pics of flashing images, but not three minutes ago I was on my own screen name and there were these hideous nightmarish red and white flashy "stolen Image" signs of death. I clicked on favorite places for it so it must have been an old URL so I'll go back and check if it looks ok with the one I used at the beginning of this thread.

[edited two minutes later]

I'm back on my screen name but used the www.nightscrawlers.com/forum/

and everything is chipper!

Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:15 am

So it works for you now, CHG? Cool. I'm never ever to test anything with an AOL browser, and God knows what America Online does with it. I hope it works for you soon, buri103

Thank you,
-Technical Administrator

buri103 · Post by **buri103** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:34 am

Please answer the following questions:

1.) What URL do you see in your titlebar accessing this site?
http://ashley.xeonserver-one.co.uk/~nightscr/forum/

2.) What browser are you using?
Mozilla I guess, I use netzero to get online, but the windows opens as mozilla not internet explorer

3.) What operating system are you using?
uh... i'd don't know. what is that?

4.) Do you have firewalls or "internet security" software installed?
Yes, I've got spybot spyware installed, I've had it for about 7 months and there was never a problem before

Include any more detail you possibly can, and see if another browser makes any change. If so, please note so. I can't imagine why this would be happening; I've tested it in every browser on my machine and from many different URLs.

How would I test a different browser?

Jeez, I'm so uneducated in online jargon and fix-it details.... be nice

Edit: It' s fixed now!!

Thanx!!

I'll change ny bookmark now

*wanders off*

Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:37 am

You can't use that URL, buri103. You must use http://www.nightscrawlers.com/forum/. Just so no one else has that problem, I have added that host to the allowed hosts list.

I'm so glad these were solvable. I thought I had done something deadly for a moment. Please contact me if you have any more problems.

Thank you,
-Technical Administrator