Take a Screenshot, Only get Half the Image

How do you prevent an image from being downloaded from the web? You can’t!

Terence Eden knows this too, but it didn’t stop him from a very clever experiment. First, split the image into two in some fashion (he made every-other-line interlaced versions). Then…

Using JavaScript the first frame can be rendered onto a <canvas> element for a millisecond, wiped, and then the second displayed. Repeat.

So if you screenshot it, you’ll only ever get half of it.

This isn’t a game anyone should ever try to play:

None of it matters of course. If you send pixels to a computer screen, they can be copied. It is possible to slow people down – but all it takes is for one person to work out how your scheme works and then it crumbles to dust.

But I still think it’s clever.

Thoughts? Email me or comment below. Also CodePen PRO is quite a deal. πŸ™

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