CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascripthtml
Paul
Paul

Reputation: 814

Prevent web page copying method

I was completely facinated when I discovered BRW's (example) method to prevent web page copying. I had a quick look through the source view and couldn't see how they did it. Aside from inserting (c) symbols through out the text, they also scramble the text yet it is completely readable through a browser. Amazing!

Any ideas how they did it?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 441

Answers (2)

smilingthax
smilingthax

Reputation: 5724

They overlay/insert invisible text spans (through CSS: text-indent: -100000px) that browsers usually still copy and paste, resulting in too much copied text. You need to parse the CSS to determine what is readable (try lynx -- bad text)

Upvotes: 0

Yann Ramin
Yann Ramin

Reputation: 33167

If you view the source, you will notice that its a boatload of <i> and <span> elements littered in the source (some of which are hidden by indenting them -10000 to the left). However, a simple scraper with a tiny bit of logic could easily undo that travesty.

Sure, it will prevent casual copy and paste, but is downright dumb, plus makes you pretty much ungoogleable.

Upvotes: 2

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