Protecting an image on a web site is difficult.  Watermarks are probably the only sure way to secure an image, but even then it's possible for another site to "hotlink" to your image and in effect use your bandwidth to power their site.  Myspace users are often guilty of this, perhaps not as much out of maliciousness as out of ignorance.  Even so, the cost to you can be real!

There is a way to prevent another site from linking directly to and using your image and traffic; use the .htaccess file and what's called a "Rewrite" rule to block access.  The code looks like this:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} #!^http://(www\.)?myspace.com/.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ - [F]

These lines go inthe ".htaccess" file, which needs to be in the "WWW" folder in your site.  The .htaccess file can be difficult to edit since most FTP programs cannot "see" files beginning with a period.  We recommend using your account control panel File Manager, and then creating a new file called ".htaccess" and editing it accordingly.  Note that the sample code here is directly at Myspace.com only - if a different site is the problem you'll have to change that.

The .htaccess page is also used for other things; see Custom Error Pages for another use.  NOTE:  htaccess cannot be used in conjunction with a Frontpage-enabled web site.