Expiration link

Hi vdavid,

I want to encode within this link the ability to have a time expiration

Is the link a simple/static thing or does it call back to a database when clicked?  If so, it would be trivial to add a datetime field to the database that can be checked on click to see if the server time is greater than the value of the field and provide the appropriate response.

and also a limited use method

Not sure I understand how the links are being used here. How do you control where a user chooses to activate the link?  Can they click it in an email?  Enter it directly into a browser?  Embed it in a web site?  All three?

A simple link can not do that.  In addition, the file that does a "call back" must be a program file.  Nothing else will make a connection back to your server.

I think I need to clarity more, what we want to accomplish is this. We do not want to sell digital material on our website. What we want to do instead is provide a hyperlink to the digital media that will be used on the internet.

Example: John has a website. He needs photos for his website design. He purchases the rights for use of the images he purchases, but at no time has total access to the images unless he purchases the full rights to the image.

What we want to provide is a hyperlink to this image stored on our server with an encrypted hyperlink which expires after its usage agreement expires. This contract can vary in time based off of his agreement.

What we want to do is also have a call back in that link that determines the domain or other information provided upon purchase to validate the proper usage of the image. If it does not pass the validation check then the link is disable for that location.

If there is a coding snippet or current product that does this that would be appreciated.  We have found http://www.vibralogix.com/linklokurl/ or Php Link directory, but we are still researching whether this will accomplish what we want.

We also understand by using this method it will take up more bandwidth for our server, but we are attempting to protect & prevent the usage of digital media on other websites in which they are not authorized to do. We are attempting to provided maximum profitability for the author of the digital work.

Any recommendations would be appreciated?

Ray Paseur and Marco Gasi are excellent! I am not sure how to award you both points, but this gives us a direction now to work with. Ray you are totally brilliant to see what we are attempting to do. When I have tried to describe this to other programmers they give me a blank stare. There is a method to my madness.

You are totally right, once that image, video, ebook, or MP3 is downloaded it does not matter what licensing agreement that was made, it would no longer matter. Very similar to providing them cloud access to software packages to run their business. We are hoping this new business model will catch on.

We would like to see more linking, and less transfer. I understand for years we have done it this way, but look where we are at today. Case in point: John wants to host an image file on his website. He agrees that he will only use it once, for a single domain, or even a MP3 or video file, but we all know that is not the case, because much of the time either John will use it on another website he is hosting, or Bill who visits his website then right clicks the image, and we have no means of controlling who or what uses that image. Even pulling the embedded link is a common practice to host video files, so we figured why not have some form of verification, and if the information does not match, and since they do not have access to the original file all they will have is a broken link.

Google images is a great example of sharing images without the consent of the author. I am sure they never thought this through before implementing this feature, and shame on them, because all they are doing is encouraging the practice of piracy instead of preventing it.

Their message about the MPAA and stopping piracy is moot if they themselves are participating in the same act that they are trying to stop.

We decided someone needs to step up to the plate, and do something.

Sure, maybe that $2.00 image does not matter, but really?

We at Goldmarc Solutions feel everyone deserves the right to earn what "they feel" they should for their time and labor. At Goldmarc Solutions we have been looking at the bigger picture, and how even a $2.00 image can, and will affect the economy. Like I tell my clients, we have moved from an "industrial based society" to an "intellectual base society", and it is time we close the barn door before we have nothing of value to give.

We are hoping to release new and exciting products to the internet this year that will change the current business model of doing ecommerce on the internet. We want to establish a new paradigm and business model to prevent the piracy of digital media, and drive revenues, and profits to the authors. We are planning on getting a booth this year at Comdex to display all the new and innovative was we have been doing R&D on for the past couple of years to prevent piracy both using software and hardware solutions.

I hate to say it, we clutter our hard drives with way too much digital information. This may reduce the need for that new 3 terabyte hard drive. ;)