Using flash to protect images from being stolen

Is flash the best bet to keep images from being stolen? Is there any way to steal images from web开发者_高级运维sites that use flash to display images.

I heard that we can use firebug to download flash images. Is this correct?

If a user can see the image on their browser, then it means the user has downloaded the image and it is already on their computer. Simple is that. There is no way to prevent images from being stolen.

Even if you managed to somehow invent a way for an image to be shown on the customers computer without them downloading it, then they can still take a screen shot, and again your plans have been foiled.

Well, if all else fails, one can always take a screenshot and cut out the image he desires.

What would a bad user do with the images? If he uses your images without your consent, you can threaten legal action and law is on your side.

Well, the thief could simply take a screen capture if they really wanted it. Also, yes you can download flash objects, you don't need Firebug to do it.

I am not sure of your requirements or reasoning but watermarks are a good measure if you are say, showing an image as a "sample" for content that needs to be paid for.

An option to keeping someone from downloading the flash object itself would be to create a flash image displayer that accesses images in a secure location, that would prevent them from downloading the flash object to get the images... Still doesn't prevent users from taking a screen capture though

Users can always take a screenshot if the image is visible in the browser.

It is possible in Flash to dynamically watermark the image - i.e. put a transparent image or piece of text over the image. However, this obviously ruins the look of the image itself and is only appropriate, for example, if you are selling images and want to protect them to some extent.