Hotlinking
It is common for some folks to “steal” images from a developer’s website and display on their own website. This is a process called “hotlinking”[2]. Yes, it is pretty much stealing. Just because it is on the Internet, doesn’t mean you can use it.
If you have access to your .htaccess file, the following code may help solve the problem on your website.
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http(s)?://(www\.)?yourwebsite.com [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif)$ – [NC,F,L]
Replace “yourwebsite.com” with your own domain. [1]
cPanel
If you are using a cpanel Interface to manage your hosting accounts, you might take the time to follow the following instructional video from Hostgator.
Copyrights
Learn a bit more about why this is bad and could get you into tons of trouble. [3]
References:
- Hostgator, August 21, 2017, Syed Balkhi – How to Optimize Images on WordPress for Lightning Fast Loading
- Wikipedia – Hotlinking
- Awesomely Techie, Lovvie, September 30, 2014 – What is Hotlinking and Why is it Bad When you do it Without Permission?
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