Disabling Right-Click Is No Solution For Content Theft

Some agents are concerned that their website content is being copied by others and are looking for a solution. Various website providers and webmasters have been recommending and implementing a so-called solution that prevents web surfers from accessing the menu that is seen when the right mouse button is clicked.

This is done because when that menu is accessed one of the choices is "View Source" which allows the code to be seen. The thinking is that if you can prevent the code from being seen then you can prevent it from being copied. A nice thought but most webmsters and anyone but a web "newbie" knows this to be total fantasy.

There are many ways to access the web page code if someone has disabled the right mouse button menu - including just using the "view source" option under "View" on the toolbar above the open window. One can also just save the page using that option under the "File" menu and also turning off javascript disbles the code that is disabling the right-click menu.

So, the only people who would not be able to figure out how to view the code are so new on the web that they would also have no idea of how to copy the code once they viewed it. Disabling the right-click menu is no solution at all.

If you are one of those who is doing this on your own website - you should ponder this... according to your logic, web surfers only know how to use the right click menu and not the toolbars above the window. So, by disabling the right-click you are not only preventing people from viewing your source but you are also preventing them from bookmarking your page - and with Firefox - from bookmarking your page and/or sending the page to a friend.

It seems to me that even under your logic (or your webmaster's logic) disabling the right-click function in an attempt to prevent content theft is probably a foolish and costly idea!