Hotlinking: Hot or Not?
By KJ
Not.
What is hotlinking?
Hotlinking is when you directly link to another website's
images so that the images will appear on your site. As a result, you
don't need to store the image on your own server. But on the flip side,
you also use up a portion of the other site's data transfer, or bandwidth.
The
reason why using up someone elses bandwidth is problem, is because web
hosts
charge by bandwidth, and if a site goes over the monthly allotment of
data transfer, the host will charge an additional fee or take the site
offline. Not surprisingly, this leaves many webmasters feeling shortchanged.
Keep in mind free sites have bandwidth limits too, and since
those webmasters do not pay any fees, free website hosts will automatically
shut down the site for a couple hours.
"[There is] a simple analogy for bandwidth theft: Imagine a
random stranger plugging into your electrical outlets, using your electricity
without
your consent,
and you paying for it."
Can the site I'm hotlinking find out I'm hotlinking?
Yes. Webmasters can view their site statistics and discover specifically
who is hotlinking their pictures. In some instances, peeved webmasters
will replace a hotlinked
picture with a silly or downright embarrassing one.
Will StarWarsSelect.com take
action against hotlinking?
Yes we will, so be forewarned.
How can I prevent surfers from hotlinking my site?
If your website's hosted on a free server, about all you can do is plug
in a code that will prevent all surfers from right clicking. Find the
code in Dynamic Drive's Disable
Right Mouse Click Script article.
If you pay for a website and have access to the .htaccess file
on your server, you can use a special code to prevent hotlinking found
in this AltLab.com
article.
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