question re: rights protections

[Maude]

I went looking through the photography pages yesterday and discovered something that would be a concern to me if I were thinking of uploading pics for purchase/sale through the site.
There are no protections, preventing people from simply grabbing and using your pics without paying.
Just to see if it was possible, I selected an image from the screen, selected "save picture as" when I right clicked on it, and was able to paste it onto a MS word page that I opened.
I immediately cancelled out of Word and cleared my clipping ... but if I can do it (and I am not technically savvy) then ANYONE can.
My husband is a professional photographer, who was quite excited with the possibility about offering some of his extreme sports photography here. However, until there are protections to prevent simply `snatch and grab`artists from taking without paying, it won`t happen.
I know that professional photography/artist sites like istockphoto.com have those sorts of protections in place (so you can't just grab and go). If it can be done there, it can certainly be done here.
What is being done to protect the work of visual artists on this site?

[Celeste Stewart]

Hi,
I noticed that the thumbnail display images are basically low-res images -- plus they are distorted so I doubt anyone would want to use them as they look pretty crappy as currently displayed. But I agree, it would be nice if they couldn't be lifted.

[Cheryl]

I ran into an artist at who found someone had stolen his stuff off the Internet and was selling it at a show. Imagine the shock. The guy took all his stuff off the internet after that. Admittedly a drastic move, but his work was high-end and he could collect a good price for it.

For the record, I am in favor of some sort of watermark or constant content labeling if you will that would deter theft.

[Cheryl]

I ran into an artist at who found someone had stolen his stuff off the Internet and was selling it at a show. Imagine the shock. The guy took all his stuff off the internet after that. Admittedly a drastic move, but his work was high-end and he could collect a good price for it.

For the record, I am in favor of some sort of watermark or constant content labeling if you will that would deter theft.

[NicWrites]

I know many clip art and photography sites superimpose their name over the image until it is paid for in order to stop this stealing from occuring.

[constant-content]

We plan on doing a watermark and are working on it now.