Here is a great new tool to stop digital thieves from stealing your images and downloadable products. If you are building websites and selling products online you need this product to protect yourself.

Hotlink ALARM is a wonderful software tool that alerts users via email when their websites graphics and digital property are being used without permission by image hot-linkers and product thieves.

“It gives the advantage back to honest owners of online businesses like you who have been plagued for years by hot-linkers and digital pirates,” said Will Bontrager, a software engineer and co-developer of HotlinkALARM.

Hotlink ALARM was conceived by Bontrager, Willie Crawford and Patrick Pretty.

Will Bontrager began his software programming career in 1980, and has produced website software exclusively since 1997. Willie Crawford is a renowned online merchant and Internet Marketer who maintains hundreds of websites. Patrick Pretty is an online entrepreneur and founder of the Patrick Pretty line of digital information products.

“Not only does the unique Hotlink ALARM technology alert users via email when their digital images are being hot-linked, it also enables users to substitute the image being hot-linked with a customized message,” Crawford said.

“Visitors to the thieves’ website will see the substitute image, which alerts them that the hot-linker is using unauthorized images,” Crawford explained. “By employing the special PowerALARM technology built into Hotlink ALARM, users can redirect traffic back to the website from which it was stolen.”

Hotlink ALARM users receive the software, a default Hotlink ALARM substitution graphic to alert visitors to the presence of unauthorized images, plus a package of six optional substitution images.

“Users of Hotlink ALARM even can tailor a message they’d like visitors to the hot-linker’s website to see,” said Patrick Pretty. “Hotlink ALARM enables users to recapture traffic lost to hot-linkers, while empowering owners of the product to make a strong statement that they don’t take digital theft lightly.”

The email Hotlink ALARM users receive when an unauthorized hotlink is detected includes the URL of the hot-linking web page, information on the type of file that’s being hotlinked, and other pertinent information.

A user of Hotlink ALARM can use its built-in control panel to set the system to send an email each time a hotlink is detected or once a day.

“Hotlink ALARM also is designed to protect against product theft,” Bontrager said. “Users can set the system to guard against the hotlinking of video, audio, JavaScript files, off-site CGI programs such as forms, and PDF and ZIP files,” Bontrager said.

“If a digital pirate hotlinks files, the owner of the files pays a double penalty,” Crawford said. “Not only does the theft result in lost sales, it often also means the owner is paying higher bandwidth costs because the files are plucked from the owner’s web server.”

Patrick Pretty, who specializes in Internet Marketing branding, said hotlinkers routinely try to gain an advantage by using the owner’s brand identity to create the appearance that a website is legitimate.

“A hotlinker often tries to trick website visitors by posting branded images that have been stolen,” Patrick Pretty said.

“They trade off of the hard work of the website owners and then send them a bill in the form of brand dilution and higher bandwidth charges.”

Also inluded with Hotlink ALARM is “Image No Copy,” a software application that makes it difficult for thieves to copy images for exploitation later.

“Image No Copy gives Hotlink Alarm users an extra level of protection,” Bontrager said. “Our specialized technology frustrates thieves, especially when they see that the image they just tried to save to their computer desktop is not the one they thought they were saving.”

Hotlink ALARM and its components came to life after the co-founders’ own businesses were affected by an online thief.

Willie Crawford is founder of the The Internet Marketing Inner Circle (TIMIC), a gathering place for online entrepreneurs.

Will Bontrager and Patrick Pretty are TIMIC members.

In October 2007, the members of TIMIC released “20 Ways To Make $100 Per Day Online,” an information product that became an instant bestseller.

On a Saturday morning shortly after the release of the product, “20 Ways” appeared in an unauthorized eBay listing.

The eBay seller had stolen the product, posting it for one-third of its retail price. And he hotlinked to the “20 Ways” website, stealing images and other intellectual property.

“People were posting positive feedback on eBay for a product that was stolen,” Willie Crawford said. “We set out to do something about it.”

“Hotlink ALARM” and its components were the co-founders’ response to the growing problem of online theft.

“It’s time for hotlinkers and digital thieves to stop profiting at the expense of hard-working online merchants and producers of digital merchandise,” Bontrager said.

“Users of Hotlink ALARM have an advantage over the pirates,” Bontrager said. “Hotlink ALARM was designed to give users a victory over the thieves.”