Secret Image In Hyperlink?

[irregularjoe]

OK. Get your thinking caps on. This is WEIRD!

A few days ago I dropped into BT, looked around a bit, and posted an image reply in the Open Chat Forum "Word Association". The word posted before me was "CheckMate" I think. I thought about it a minute and came up with "Bounced Check". Having been the recipient of such frauds on numerous occasions, I decided to (as Emeril would say) add another notch! So I did a quick Google image search for "bounced check" and posted the link. What I saw, and what I continue to see, is an image of a NSF check.

Now here's the dilemma. I was informed that the image had to removed because when some people clicked the thumbnail, an obscene image would appear.

But no matter what I do, whenever I click the image all I see is the bounced check. I verified this by doing another Google Image search and selecting the same search result. And when BT Jeff told me about the problem via PM he sent me the removed link. I still have it and all I see is the bounced check image, certainly nothing obcsene.

Why would the same link result in very different results?

If you'd like to check this out, it's the third result, (michaelbluejay), on a Google Image "bounced check" (no quotes) search.

Now I better say that you should be warned that you might see something else if you click to enlarge the image, although as I said, I do not.

Could this have happened because of a browser security issue? I'm using IE6 with medium -high security settings. I tried it with a popup blocker turn on and then off and got the same results. No obscenities, only the check image. I haven't tried it with Firefox.

Now I'm afraid to link to anything.

As anyone here that knows me would know, I certainly would not deliberately post anything obscene.

So if you were one of the people who DID see something other than my intended post, I sure am sorry.

But the point is, how could this happen?

Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Edited December 31, 2006 by irregularjoe

[shanenin]

It was one of the first images I saw for the day(before my coffee). It was disturbing, but I am not offended(strangely entertained, not aroused). If you figure out what happened, let me know. Thanks

I think this was the link, it now looks like a bounce check

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...%3Doff%26sa%3DG

Edited December 31, 2006 by shanenin

[thesidekickcat]

Hello Joe,

Wow that is something to think about for sure. What a mess this internet world is if we can't trust an innocent looking/sounding Google link to either an image or a site article etc.

Did you have safe search on on your Google search? (under preferences also safe search works whether you have the toolbar or just go to Google search from a link as I do now.)

Have you checked the image on Google with right click properties to see who or what it is? Or the site that hosts it?

I read a warning a long time ago on that other board, by Pete I think, about how hot links (which at the time I thought was a hot Italian sausage to give everyone a laugh at how little I know), could be a board problem due to the nature of the beast being able to be changed to a totally different article/item whatever at any time by linked site. But never actually heard anyone having that happen. Now with images, I know they can be manipulated to some extent....just look at some of the avatars etc that change to a different image, but from thumbnail to larger picture would think it would stay the same ...or not?

I saw you had posted the phrase, but don't remember a link/thumbnail or whatever it was there but if it was at the time I looked then I just didn't notice it.

I figure people here are careful about links so I trust the regular posters (though I do wait and see what new folks are like first), so a mouse hover is all I do before I check most links here out...that is if I see it or have the time to look.

Folks do let us know if you know how this could have happened...maybe Sultan who is the KING of links, and definitely knows his images might give us some insight on this potential risky link idea if it is or not.

Take care Joe,

I always enjoy your train of thought on the Word Association thread. And I sure find it interesting to read several pages of word associations when I am catching up after being absent for a few days. Sometimes it is almost comical to read them all.

Pat

God bless everyone

[Besttechie]

Okay, this is very weird, NOW I see the appropriate image (the bounced check)

Shane what do you see? Because I know you were the one who pointed it out to me.

B

[sethook]

It was one of the first images I saw for the day(before my coffee). It was disturbing, but I am not offended(strangely entertained, not aroused). If you figure out what happened, let me know. Thanks

I think this was the link, it now looks like a bounce check

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...%3Doff%26sa%3DG

Check out the link now......

[shanenin]

Check out the link now......

I'm am seeing a bounced check(not the image I saw before), what are you seeing?

Edited December 31, 2006 by shanenin

[sethook]

Check out the link now......

I'm am seeing a bounced check(not the image I saw before), what are you seeing?

I'm seeing a page entitled:

The story behind the station going off the air in mid-March 1999

EDIT::::

I do see a small thumbnail in the top of the page with the insufficient funds check. Is that what you're seeing?

Edited December 31, 2006 by sethook

[shanenin]

yup I am seeing exactly what you are.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Was the thumbnail image hotlinked? The website owner may have noticed and swapped the image file.

[thesidekickcat]

Ok folks, what does HOT LINK mean (and is that any different than a regular link?), besides a good Italian, or German, hot sausage?

Pat

God bless everyone

Edited January 1, 2007 by thesidekickcat

[Martint]

Ok folks, what does HOT LINK mean, besides a good Italian, or German, hot sausage?

Pat

God bless everyone

It means.....stealing bandwidth to put it nicely.

For example.

Let's say, I have this mp3 file on my website.

and some random guy finds it, and tells everyone about the link.

Those people will download the file without even visiting the original website.

At least, thats what I think.

[Besttechie]

Was the thumbnail image hotlinked? The website owner may have noticed and swapped the image file.

Hey TT,

That's definitely possible, the image was hot-linked, if I recall correctly. Which would explain why when Joe went back to look at it, it was the regular image (I had already removed it) it was probably changed back by that time.

B

[Pete_C]

When you find an image on the internet and post it on a forum, you are using that persons servers to access the image each time someone opens your thread. They suddenly see their bandwidth usage (which they have to pay for) spike , but no corresponding increase in hits on their site or ad traffic (revenue).

What do they do ? They check the logs, find which image was "hot linked" elsewhere and temporarily replace it with a nasty one. This gets a moderator to pull the image from the forum where it was placed , so they can return it to normal.

Why would it look right to you and not to others? Temporary internet files (cache) of the image. So it is not being refetched when the page reloads.

It is courtesy and best policy to save the pic and put it on your own photobucket or imageshack account if you are posting it on a forum unless it is copy write protected.

If it is, do not post without permission, just link to the site.

[bobbynichols]

When you find an image on the internet and post it on a forum, you are using that persons servers to access the image each time someone opens your thread. They suddenly see their bandwidth usage (which they have to pay for) spike , but no corresponding increase in hits on their site or ad traffic (revenue).

I never thought of that.

I would have thought that an innocuous hot link wouldn't be a bother - since linking to an outside source is

so accessible... the bandwidth $$$ never occurred to me (I should have remembered the 'Digg effect'). I'm still trying to bend my poor pea-brain around the fact that I'm downloading when hot-linking to an image; and accessing a website also affects their bandwidth... but I accept the fact. I would hope that in the near future $$$ would go by the wayside for bandwidth... but that's pretty naive of me. So I guess, I have to redress my ethos since I choose not download proggies nor music, (n)et al, which are not public domain.

I guess the good news is that Besttechie's Word Association thread is large enough in readership to even be noticed .

What do they do ? They check the logs, find which image was "hot linked" elsewhere and temporarily replace it with a nasty one. This gets a moderator to pull the image from the forum where it was placed , so they can return it to normal.

I would have thought a polite remark would be more appropo... oh well.

It is courtesy and best policy to save the pic and put it on your own photobucket or imageshack account if you are posting it on a forum unless it is copy write protected.

If it is, do not post without permission, just link to the site.

... and I should know better (at least in the 'fair use' sense):

For Art's Sake !!!

I scoured the web

seeking for images

to best fit my poetry

I, already inspired

and finally I alight

upon creations fantastic

free-to-use advertised

exactly what I desired

just needed to edit

which I dispatched with vigor

crop here, render there

artistically wired

then read the fine print...

upon second perusal...

"no website posting allowed"

caught in a quandary, mired

for artwork is owned

by its creator in toto

artistic license indeed !

when money most required

I released back the work

to the ether whence spawned

and look inward, not out

for creations acquired

: Bobby Nichols 9/23/2003

I wonder if even linking to a site will remain an option in the future... what with the 'Digg effect', Google, Wikipedia and the ilk, becoming more rampant.

New business plan: Charge backs and suits to those who create bandwidth $pikes... be it the above or forums or BLOGs, à la RIAA strong arm tactics .

I am now a thoroughly repentant ""artwork"" 'borrower'.

(may I still use the smilies?)

[Pete_C]

Next time , try the google cached version, then you are using googles bandwidth.