How to protect your content in advance

A watermark with your username

Add your username to photos and videos. It won’t stop a leak, but it helps show the image is yours, and copies with it turn up in name searches.

• Place it near the center: corners are easy to crop.
• In videos, keep it on screen the whole time.

Removing author details without permission is banned in Russia (Civil Code, Article 1300) and, when done on purpose to enable or hide an infringement, in the US (17 U.S.C. 1202).

Keep your originals

Full quality source files, other shots from the set and full videos help prove authorship.

• Keep source files after you post.
• Store two copies: on a separate drive and in a cloud with 2-step verification.
• Log links to your posts with dates.

Russian law presumes that the person named as the author on the original or a copy is the author unless proven otherwise (Civil Code, Article 1257). If a photographer shot it, they are the author: settle the rights in a contract.

Copyright without registration

Under Article 1259(4) of the Russian Civil Code, copyright needs no registration or other formalities. Photos and audiovisual works are on the list of protected works.

The US Copyright Office agrees: copyright exists once a work is created, and registration is voluntary. DMCA takedown notices don’t need it either.

When US registration matters

It matters if a dispute could reach a US court.

• For US works, such as those first published in the US, you can’t sue for infringement before registering (17 U.S.C. 411).
• Statutory damages and attorney’s fees require registration before the infringement began or within three months of first publication (17 U.S.C. 412).
• A certificate from before publication or within five years of it is prima facie evidence of a valid copyright (17 U.S.C. 410).

This is an overview, not legal advice.

StopNCII hashes before a leak

StopNCII makes a hash, a digital fingerprint of an image or video, on your device. Only the hash leaves it, and partner platforms review matches under their own rules.

Don’t wait for a leak: if you fear your images may be shared, StopNCII recommends creating a case.

• You must be in the images and 18 or older in them.
• For videos, also hash screenshots: videos and images use different hash formats.
• Hash edited versions separately.
• Save your case number and PIN: they can’t be recovered.

It only covers partner platforms, not the whole internet.

Monitor your name and photos

• Google Alerts: at google.com/alerts, enter your username and click “Create Alert” to get emails about new results. Add one per name variant.
• Google’s “Results about you” finds your address, phone number and email in search and can notify you of new matches, useful if a leak comes with personal details.
• Search by image in Google and Yandex Images using a public photo with no nudity. Both show sites with the same image, and Yandex can find a full image from a part.

Search shows only indexed pages, so no results doesn’t mean no copies. To check yourself by face, see the face check page.

Secure your accounts

Start with email: it can reset all your other passwords.

• Google: under “Security & sign-in”, turn on 2-Step Verification. Prompts, passkeys and security keys beat text message codes, which are open to attacks on your number.
• Yandex ID: use a password plus a one-time password from the Yandex ID (Key) app.
• Work platforms: turn on two-step login where offered and use unique passwords.
• Telegram: in Settings, Privacy and Security, 2-Step Verification, set a cloud password and a recovery email, and secure that email too. Under Devices, end sessions you don’t recognize.

Remove location data

Your camera may record where a photo was taken, so a shot at home can give away your address.

• iPhone: in location settings, set the Camera app to “Never”.
• Android: turn off location tags in camera settings (“Save location” on Google devices).
• Google Photos can’t remove a camera-added location, and it stays in downloaded files. Post copies without it and keep originals private.

If a leak has already happened

We can search for copies and report them to sites, hosts and search engines. Tell us what happened in the form on the home page.