Many webmasters will argue that content is the hardest part of creating websites. They’ll make a slick design, code a fancy cascading style sheet, and validate their HTML, but then they’re stuck. Understandably so, when they do create their precious content, some webmasters go ‘over the top’ in trying to protect it from being stolen and posted on other websites.

I thought I’d give a basic rule of thumb that I’ve created: If you sing a song, expect it to be sung in showers. What this means is, once you release something, regardless of the security measures it contains, it will be reproduced freely. The same way “I cant get no satisfaction” by the Stones is sung by millions around the globe, the lengthy tutorial written by a geek in some dark basement will be posted and exploited on forums and BBS’ around the world. It’s really a very simple concept.

I’m sure I’ve enraged some “JavaScript Jockeys” by now, with their fancy disabled right click code, and the infamous no highlight sting used so frequently. I submit to the “Paranoid Paul’s” this. Go to Sitepoint.com, which is undisputedly an immensely successful plethora of tutorials, articles, opinions, and more. You’ll find that you can use your middle mouse button with ease, you can highlight text as you read, and as a grand finale, your right mouse button works!

So how to protect that invaluable content one might ask? Simply put: Don’t. If your content is good enough, it doesn’t need protection. When I say this, I imply your website has a good following. A large visitor-base will scare away the pirates. They’ll know that stealing content won’t get them anywhere, since many people know where the content originates. If, however, content is stolen, a harshly written letter to the thief usually does the trick.