drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

I would like to know if anyone has devised a way to make a jpeg go away, as in delete itself, at a predetermined date? Does anyone know how to insert programs into a jpeg?

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

What are you trying to do.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

Trying to assure that if I sell a photo to some one after 30 days the file goes away from their machines. Call it a way of keeping copyright honest.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

So by keeping copyright honest, you mean you want to cheat someone and steal their files? (If you sell a file to someone, its his/hers, there is no time limit on that)!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So they keep the print, but not the digital copy? Software vendors let you use a program as a trial for a period of time, and then it becomes unusable. I think that kind of setup for an individual is beyond the reach of most of us. Deleting things from someone else's computer sounds devious. Even programs you get as a trial remain on your machine as unusable.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

No not cheat the purchaser. Just keep them from making more than allowed copies. Something we as pros need to do to keep all of those wanna bees from copying illegally our copyrighted shots. I have always shot for the fellow pros to avoid this conflict. I am just tired of wondering who in this digital age swiped my work from me by making copies. That goes for all the wedding work I have done. Especially those that I shot for telling me their sales were down from certain customers that they thought that since that customer was a computer expert copied their proofs. The same would go for a poster company that was supposed to run only 3,000 copies and actually reran the edition for another 3,000 a few years later without re-purchasing or even calling for your approval. Since all of this is copyright infringement the only eal way to protect ourselves is to sell a digital image that will go away after so many copies and after 30 days or so. This is done by Adobe they rent us their programs unless we were able to buy it outright before they up the price and I bet they make their program unusable when we don't pay their monthly fees anymore. We just need a programmer to make what I want happen. The file would not corrupt their machine it would simply vanish after the agreed upon time limit expressed in the sale. Why does everyone think that this would be illegal since it would not harm someone's computer and would just make the file we sold them disappear after 30 days or so. Then they could no longer make free copies. I am retired and I want to sell my art but I do not want to give it away too and believe me I am asked often to make copies of pro work. I refuse to nicely by just not having time to do it for the person who asked. We imprint the front or stamp the back to prove we shot it and even our Nikons have a place in the file to record that it was our camera that shot it. (Nikon copyright info is fully addressable in the camera menu) If they buy the prints from an outside house does the outside house keep sending us money every time they print another shot ordered by the customer we sent them? A counter for use would also be nice. Then we could sell an image for a limited number of shots and then the file would ask for an unlock key like Adobe. Either way a time lock out image file or a number of uses lock out image file would be very useful for us pros. Yes it would make the customer mad because the customer would no longer get it free.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I doubt I'd be very happy if someone sent me an innocent-looking jpeg file that then went on to auto-install, auto-execute file-deleting software on my computer system! Yikes!

Fortunately, a true jpeg file cannot be altered to automatically execute tasks or install programs. If it were possible, malware coders would have taken advantage of this feature long ago, and we would now have a deep distrust of all image files, fearful of what damage they may do to our computers.

Bill_de Loc: US

Building an app for that could probably make a programmer more than a few $$$ ... as long as nobody pirates it.

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blackest Loc: Ireland

Quite ridiculous if it is a jpeg it is a jpeg. It is pretty simple to create a program that has audio or video embedded in it. I've written programs that do just that and are pretty hard to reverse engineer(not impossible). I did it for a valentine some years back. Go write your own! Why should you get to reuse my work without compensating me for every time you use it.

It's the same argument. As a pro you would become an ex-pro in short order, nobody would be prepared to put up with these antics, you would for one have to produce at least a windows/Linux/Mac/android/iphone version. Any Printer would hang up the phone on you if you attempted to get him to print your encrypted jpeg.

How are you going to stop someone from copying your custom encryption program and running that on another system. Let's say you use self modifying code the first time you run it it updates a counter. Where is that counter in the code well you run a diff between the unmodified code and the modified code and it will tell you byte xxyy has changed value so poke back the value of byte xxyy and it's back to how it was before. its like a game cheat you say allow 3 lives before game over some point in the code is "lives less than or equal to 3" change that 3 to 33 and now you have 33 lives to change before game over.

Adobe Photoshop has a flag in it which says licensed or not and a check routine which every 99 days causes photoshop to revalidate with adobes servers. The do check routine is looking for a boolean answer yes / no you just mod the routine to always give the positive response. You know that you can download a version of adobes creative cloud suite for windows or mac which has had the license checks neutered? The only thing those checks do is keep honest customer honest by treating them as potential thieves. Niagra3 is a form of drm for satellite tv it hasn't been cracked in years, too hard. However there is card sharing where 1 licensed card generates the code to decrypt the channel and the code is read transfered over the internet and given to other satellite boxes as needed. Every so often the card server gets busted and it shuts down and another pops up to replace it.

Quite simply there is no technology that can't be circumvented. Your only recourse is to the law if you can provide evidence of breach of contract and you can sue your customers. You sue your customers and they will not be your customers any more and potential customers will not want to employ you.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

Again missed the point. The point is to keep unauthorized copies from being made. Again, Time out or a file lockout would only apply to the file sold. If you did not order your prints the Cd or Dvd would lock you out and if you copied the file it would go away. If you buy a pic from me or any other photographer you could only get a limited time or limited number of copies from the file if we sold you the file. Nothing to do with screwing up a customers computer. Leave that up to the hacks who love to create viruses to screw up your computer. If in my office you wanted to buy the file I would tell you in person and in writing that the file is time sensitive or copy sensitive just like Adobe is. Maybe a program to hold the Jpegs for proofing is needed. One that has passcode to open. Nothing to do with harming a computer. Just keep my files from being copied without permission. That is what copyright is about.

blackest Loc: Ireland

It's already done with nicepic.jpg.exe tends to be embedded in email user clicks on the attachment , pop up says do you want to run nicepic.jpg user clicks yes and thats it your done. doesn't help that windows defaults to not showing the file extension.

Sometimes some crafty person figures out a method to run the code without involving the user (adobes pdf reader has had a few security holes exploited, so has the flash player ... not just adobe ...).

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

So you say let them screw you out of well deserved profit just to be the nice guy. Which is why photographers have not been properlky protected over the years. I wonder if Ansel Adams had to deal with this would he have created so much work.? Those copiers are like store looters only they loot your images. Photographers in the guise of obtaining new customers and fearing that they wont have new customers have given away so much of their work over the years. You own the rights to those images and you should protect those rights is all I am saying. Honest customers will hire you. The ones who want to cheat you won't and it is time for photographers to understand that. Very few seem to understand it.

blackest Loc: Ireland

No they won't. You would have to exceptional for them to hire you over another photographer who doesn't treat treat his customer as thieves.

Could you imagine a storekeeper who pulls out a shotgun and points it you and then says "good morning how can I help you".

You have to work on the basis that your customer is relatively honest. Not necessarily the case, E.g the company that developed internet explorer sold it to microsoft for a percentage of the price. Microsoft gave it away free.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

I did specify "true jpeg"; certainly anyone can change the file extension to make a file look like something it is not.

blackest Loc: Ireland

True enough, you just reminded me of the sony rootkit fiasco. An audio CD which was something it was not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal

Maybe the OP should read that link.