$string = preg_replace( ‘@< (script|style)[^>]*?>.*?@si’, ”, $string );

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32122

Firstly, DRM will always be crackable, as legions of nerds who started using home computers will tell you. All it does is *delay* how long it is before unauthorised copies start circulating and how convenient it is to use them (e.g. it might require binary patching of apps or firmware that use data files to replace the official private key with a new one that is known to the cracker).

Given that, there’s basically no way to effectively technically protect images posted online. So that leaves your options as a) visible watermarking – ugh. b) limiting the size of the images you post online. I choose option b; 765×565 works for me. It’s big enough to see, but not really useful for anyone who wants to use it in any meaningul way.

Speaking of having my work used in meaningful ways, I use the Creative Commons “Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic” license which allows sharing and “remixing” but only if attributed (which I accept may not actually happen in all cases in practice), if my license isn’t changes (again, which may not always happen) and *noncommercial*. That’s right, I’m asserting my right to be rewarded financially in spite of using a CC license. Of course, if someone uses an image commercially (in spite of its tiny size, and probably mediocre artistic merit at best), I might never find out about it. But if I do, they can’t say they weren’t told. My usage of CC directly contradicts that rant’s view of CC.

All unauthorised use of copyright works carries a substantial unethical weight (by virtue of the creator of a work having the moral right to say how it is used), and is usually illegal too. But sometimes such usage is actually more useful to the rightsholder than they have the smarts to realise (e.g. I expect everyone has at sometime infringed upon the copyright of an album, song or piece of software, not actually listened or used it much, but recommended it to others who actually did go on and buy it). Some unauthorised use is really impossible to stop (the 7 year old pasting it into their school report, or someone using it as their desktop wallpaper). Some you’d have to be a complete control freak to care about. So concentrate on the important ones; people misrepresenting your work as theirs and people making money from your work.

http://www.lighting-essentials.com/my-turn-dpps-article-on-free-images-examined/