About ImageShield®
ABOUT IMAGESHIELD®
What is ImageShield?
How does ImageShield work?
How much does ImageShield cost?
Is ImageShield an app or a website?
How can I add ImageShield to my phone's home screen?
Who founded ImageShield?
IMAGESHIELD SECURITY AND PRIVACY
Can ImageShield personnel see the photographs and other images I share through the service, or that I share on Instagram or another service?
How does ImageShield protect my personal and financial information that I share with the service?
Have ImageShield's security practices and procedures been validated by an independent organization?
IMAGES
What types of images can I share and protect through ImageShield?
Which images can I NOT share through ImageShield?
Does ImageShield protect video as well as photographs?
Can I use ImageShield to protect photographs that I’ve already shared?
IMAGESHIELD PROTECTION
How does ImageShield protect the images I share?
On which social media platforms and websites will ImageShield protect my images?
How does ImageShield tell me where my images are being used?
Will ImageShield help me to contact a service or website that is showing an abused version of one of my images?
Will ImageShield pursue compensation on my behalf for an image of mine that has been used commercially without my approval?
WATERMARKING
What is a watermark?
What are the benefits of applying a watermark to my photograph before sharing?
Am I required to place a watermark on an image I share and protect through ImageShield?
Can I change the watermark I apply to my images on ImageShield?
Q. What is ImageShield?
A: ImageShield is a service that helps people to protect the photographs and other images they share from being abused. It provides best-available, platform specific technical protection of images, plus 24-hour-a-day monitoring of where and how images are used online.
Q: How does ImageShield work?
A. ImageShield does two things. It monitors the online world, 24 hours a day, to find and report the places where photographs are being used. And if you upload your photograph to ImageShield before you share it, it offers tools to help protect your photo from being abused in the first place.
Q: How much does ImageShield cost?
A. ImageShield costs just $2.99 for your first month of service, and just $4.99 per month after that. For this low price ImageShield will monitor your shared photographs, 24/7, for possible abuse. You may easily cancel your subscription at any time.
Q. Is ImageShield an app or a website?
A. Right now ImageShield is a website, that may be used on a mobile device or a desktop computer. If you use ImageShield on your phone you can place an ImageShield icon on your phone’s homescreen so that you can access the site easily. We are developing an ImageShield app and will let you know as soon as it is available.
Q. How can I add ImageShield to my phone's home screen?
A. It's easy. On iphone, open https://app.ImageShield.com in the Safari browser and click the Share icon
Then scroll down and click Add to Home Screen, and follow the instructions from there.
On an Android phone open https://app.ImageShield.com in the Chrome browser. Then tap the menu icon (3 dots in upper right-hand corner) and tap Add to homescreen. You'll be able to enter the ImageShield name and then Chrome will add it to your home screen.
Q. Who founded ImageShield
A. ImageShield was founded by Michael Gallagher, who in 2002 founded the Stevie® Awards, which are now widely regarded as the world's premier business awards programs. Michael conceived of ImageShield because he recognized that there was no tool available for regular people who want to protect the photos they share with family, friends, and the world at large from abuse.
IMAGESHIELD SECURITY AND PRIVACY
Q. Can ImageShield personnel see the photographs and other images I share through the service, or that I've shared on Instagram or elsewhere online?
A. No, ImageShield personnel cannot see the photographs or other images you share through the service, or that you've shared on Instagram or some other service. Only you can see them, in your Gallery, after logging into your account. We can only identify your photographs by numbers we've assigned to them. So if you ever need to contact us about a particular photograph, we'll ask you to tell us which number photograph you're referring to, and we'll tell you where to find that number in your Gallery of images.
Q. How does ImageShield protect my personal and financial information that I share with the service?
A. ImageShield does not store the credit card numbers or other financial information provided by our subscribers. We only store transaction IDs, so that if in the future we need to issue a partial or full refund to a subscriber we need only submit the original transaction ID to our credit card payment processor.
We do store account information, such as subscribers' names and email addresses, but only specific, authorized senior personnel at ImageShield will ever have access to that information.
Q. Have ImageShield's security practices and procedures been validated by an independent organization?
A. Our security practices, policies and procedures have been reviewed and validated by TrustArc, and you'll find the TrustArc seal of approval in various places through our website and application.
IMAGES
Q. What types of images can I share through ImageShield?
A: ImageShield is designed to protect your photographs and other still images. Images that belong to you. Photographs that you took, illustrations that you made, photos of your family and friends – only.
Q. Which images can I NOT share through ImageShield?
A. You may not use ImageShield to share images that do not belong to you. That includes memes and other images that you find online. Users who are found to have used ImageShield to protect and monitor images that do not belong to them will be warned, and the offending images removed. Persistent infringement will warrant expulsion from the service.
Q. Does ImageShield protect video as well as still images?
A. Currently ImageShield protects and monitors photographs and other still images only. In the future the service will also protect video.
Q. Can I use ImageShield to protect photographs that I’ve already shared?
A. ImageShield will automatically monitor for uses of the photographs you've already shared on Instagram, as long as you've connected your Instagram accounts to the application through your Profile. In the future we may include automatic monitoring of images previously shared on other platforms.
IMAGESHIELD PROTECTION
Q. How does ImageShield protect the images I share?
A. ImageShield protects your photographs and other images in several ways:
1. ImageShield monitors the online world, 24 hours a day, for the use of your images, and reports to you where it finds them. You can decide whether uses are okay or are problematic, and take action if warranted.
2. ImageShield offers the best-available, platform-specific technical protection of your images. For example, we make it possible for you to share a photograph with someone via a link, so that the recipient can see the photo but not right-click, download, and save it. We offer the best means to protect your images on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other services. As those platforms change ImageShield will change with them, so that our protections are always up to date.
3. ImageShield offers an easy way to apply a watermark to your images. A watermark is a protective seal that indicates that you value your images and are actively monitoring how and where they are used. Watermarking a photo in ImageShield before you share it makes it much less likely that it will be abused.
Q. On which social media platforms and websites will ImageShield protect my images?
A. ImageShield will automatically monitor the images you've already shared on Instagram, as long as you have connected your accounts on those platforms to ImageShield through your Profile.
For photographs that upload to ImageShield before sharing them, ImageShield provides the ability to quickly share and protect your images through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
The service also has a “Share Manually” option so that you can share and protect your images on just about any other platform, including other social media sites, web pages, blogs, via text message or email, and so on.
Q. How does ImageShield tell me where my photos are being used?
A. When ImageShield finds the possible use of one of your photographs, we'll alert you via email. Also we'll report that to you on the image's page in your gallery. See this example:
If one of your images is found to appear in more than a few places, it may be useful to you to categorize those "hits," and you can do that by choosing one of the options under the Available Actions column. That way you'll later be able to sort the image's hits by action type, and followup as necessary where ImageShield has found that your images has been abused or used unlawfully.
Q. Will ImageShield help me to contact a service or website that is showing an abused version of one of my images?
A. If ImageShield finds that one of your images has been used on Facebook or Instagram, you'll be presented with a direct link to the forms to complete on those platforms to file a complaint. Currently ImageShield cannot help users to remediate the abuse of their images on other platforms. X (formerly Twitter) has a feedback mechanism to report such abuse, and they have shown themselves to be responsive to requests for action. In the future we may offer remediation services to ImageShield users so that we can issue take-down notices on users’ behalf.
Q. Will ImageShield pursue compensation on my behalf for an image of mine that has been used commercially without my approval?
A. Currently ImageShield cannot help users to pursue remuneration for the unauthorized commercial abuse of their images. In the future we may offer remediation services to ImageShield users so that we can pursue payment on users’ behalf.
WATERMARKING
Q. What is a watermark?
A. A watermark is a protective seal that will indicate to those who might abuse your image that you’re monitoring its use. Your image is much less likely to be abused if it features a watermark.
Q. What are the benefits of applying a watermark to my photograph before sharing?
A. Watermarking is a strong deterrent to image abuse. It’s like putting a sign on the door of your home that says your home is protected by a security system. A criminal who sees that is likely going to move on to the next, unprotected home.
Q. Am I required to place a watermark on an image I share through ImageShield?
A. No, you are not required to use the watermark feature in ImageShield.
Q. Can I change the watermark I apply to my images on ImageShield?
A. Yes, you’ll be able to adjust the watermark’s size, color, and position on each of the images you share.
