Hotlink ALARM is a powerful software tool that alerts users
via email when their website graphics and digital property are
being used without authorization by image hotlinkers and
product thieves.
“It gives the advantage back to honest owners of online
businesses who’ve been plagued for years by hotlinkers and
digital pirates,” said Will Bontrager, a software engineer and
co-developer of HotlinkALARM.
HotlinkALARM was conceived by Bontrager, Willie Crawford and
Patrick Pretty.
Will Bontrager began his software programming career in 1980,
and has produced website software exclusively since 1997.
Willie Crawford is a renowned online merchant and Internet
Marketer who maintains hundeds of websites. Patrick Pretty is
an online entrepreneur and founder of the Patrick Pretty line
of digital information products.
“Not only does the unique Hotlink Alarm technology alert users
via email when their digital images are being hotlinked, it
also enables users to substitute the image being hotlinked with
a customized message,” Crawford said.
“Visitors to the thieve’s website will see the substitute
image, which alerts them that the hotlinker is using
unauthorized images,” Crawford explained. “By employing the
special PowerALARM technology built into HotlinkALARM, users
can redirect traffic back to the website from which it was
stolen.”
HotlinkALARM users receive the software, a default
HotlinkALARM substitution graphic to alert visitors to the
presence of unauthorized images, plus a package of six
optional substitution images.
“Users of HotlinkALARM even can tailor a message they’d like
visitors to the hotlinker’s website to see,” said Patrick
Pretty. “Hotlink ALARM enables users to recapture traffic lost
to hotlinkers, while empowering owners of the product to make
a strong statement that they don’t take digital theft
lightly.”
The email HotlinkALARM users receive when an unauthorized
hotlink is detected includes the URL of the hotlinking web
page, information on the type of file that’s being hotlinked,
and other pertinent information.
A user of HotlinkALARM can use its built-in control panel to
set the system to send an email each time a hotlink is
detected or once a day.
“HotlinkALARM also is designed to protect against product
theft,” Bontrager said. “Users can set the system to guard
against the hotlinking of video, audio, JavaScript files, off-site
CGI programs such as forms, and PDF and ZIP files,”
Bontrager said.
“If a digital pirate hotlinks files, the owner of the files
pays a double penalty,” Crawford said. “Not only does the
theft result in lost sales, it often also means the owner is
paying higher bandwidth costs because the files are plucked
from the owner’s web server.”
Patrick Pretty, who specializes in Internet Marketing
branding, said hotlinkers routinely try to gain an advantage
by using the owner’s brand identity to create the appearance
that a website is legitimate.
“A hotlinker often tries to trick website visitors by posting
branded images that have been stolen,” Patrick Pretty said.
“They trade off of the hard work of the website owners and
then send them a bill in the form of brand dilution and higher
bandwidth charges.”
Also inluded with HotlinkALARM is “Image No Copy,” a software
application that makes it difficult for thieves to copy images
for exploitation later.
“Image No Copy gives Hotlink Alarm users an extra level of
protection,” Bontrager said. “Our specialized technology
frustrates thieves, especially when they see that the image
they just tried to save to their computer desktop is not the
one they thought they were saving.”
http://hotlinkalarm.com/?e=iquick
HotlinkALARM and its components came to life after the co-
founders’ own businesses were affected by an online thief.
Willie Crawford is founder of the The Internet Marketing
Inner Circle (TIMIC), a gathering place for online
entrepreneurs.
Will Bontrager and Patrick Pretty are TIMIC members.
In October 2007, the members of TIMIC released “20 Ways To
Make $100 Per Day Online,” an information product that became
an instant bestseller.
On a Saturday morning shortly after the release of the
product, “20 Ways” appeared in an unauthorized eBay listing.
The eBay seller had stolen the product, posting it for one-
third of its retail price. And he hotlinked to the “20 Ways”
website, stealing images and other intellectual property.
“People were posting postive feedback on eBay for a product
that was stolen,” Willie Crawford said. “We set out to do
something about it.”
“HotlinkALARM” and its components were the co-founders’
response to the growing problem of online theft.
http://hotlinkalarm.com/?e=iquick
“It’s time for hotlinkers and digital thieves to stop
profiting at the expense of hard-working online merchants and
producers of digital merchandise,” Bontrager said.
“Users of HotlinkALARM have an advantage over the pirates,”
Bontrager said. “HotlinkALARM was designed to give users a
victory over the thieves.”
Don
