HTACCESS to inhibit remote linking

[smartcars]

Thanks for the smart tips. I'll make the changes and let you know.

[smartcars]

Hi Span,

Well I made the changes and after clearing cache/files/cookies (everything) it still will not work.

Current file copy is as follows (I removed the Error codes for now):

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?allsmartcars\.com/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^graphics/hotlinkedtheft\.gif [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpeg|gif|bmp|png|jpg)$ http://www.allsmartcars.com/hotlinkedtheft.gif [R,L]

[Span]

Hi,

I wonder why it worked for me yesterday.. but I changed it a bit, the URL in the RewriteRule is a relative one now. This is a 'silent' internal rewrite. If that doesn't work, I don't know.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?allsmartcars\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^graphics/hotlinkedtheft\.gif [NC]
RewriteRule \.(jpeg|gif|bmp|png|jpg)$ /graphics/hotlinkedtheft.gif [L]

The only weak point from this or other no-hotlinking htaccess codes is that it doesn't work for user agents that hide the referer string or are behind some proxy or firewall.

[smartcars]

Hi Span,

I just tried your re-write. I checked to view http://www.allsmartcars.com/gallery/...ize/001019.jpg at http://altlab.com/hotlinking.html and was able to view it. I chose that image because I know for sure I haven't viewed.

I'm at a loss.

Jim

[Span]

Jim, one last possible solution left.. try adding this:

Options +FollowSymLinks

as the first line of your .htaccess. Sometimes that is needed. It might also throw a 500 error or do nothing, but it's worth a try.

[darkannie]

Originally Posted by Span

Since you can put all your stuff in one .htaccess there's never a need for two of them in the same directory, is there? And obviously - uploading the second one would simply overwrite the first.

You can add the code above to your existing .htaccess, but you have to allow hotlinking for the 'hotlink' image, so I added a condition:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?domain\.tld/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/path_to/nohotlinking\.jpg [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ http://www.domain.tld/path_to/nohotlinking.jpg [R,L]

If you don't want the redirect to an anti-hotlinking image, use this:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?domain\.tld/ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ - [F]

That will simply serve a 403 Permission Denied.

I just have one question, and I'm an idiot, but I'm also a cautious idiot. I just want to be sure before I take that code and put it in the .htaccess file (since I found it, yay!), do I substitute the word domain for my own, or do I need to change anything else? Do I keep the .tld?

[Span]

Hi,

yes you have to replace "domain\.tld" with your own "darkannie\.net".

.tld is just short for Top Level Domain

[darkannie]

YAY! Ok, thank you.


[edit]

Yay, it worked. Not only do I spare my bandwidth from robbers, but I also have some free advertising! This rocks so hard. Thank you, everyone! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!