What do ‘digital rights’ and ‘DRM’ mean for my site?

You may have heard the words “digital rights” or “DRM” and wondered if your site needs them. This page says what they mean, and what bernard does about your work instead. For who owns a photo in the first place, read What is copyright, and do I own my photos?.

What DRM means

DRM stands for “digital rights management”. It usually means locking a file so that it cannot be copied or played without permission. Film streaming services use it.

Why you cannot lock a picture on a web page

A visitor must see your picture to enjoy your site. Anything a screen can show, a person can copy. They can take a screenshot, or save the file, or photograph the screen. A lock that stops the copy also stops the picture being seen. So bernard does not offer a lock, and does not say it does.

bernard does other things. They work as information, as a clear refusal, and as evidence. None of them stops a determined person. Together they make your position clear and your claim easier to prove.

What bernard does today

• Removes private details from your files. When you upload a photo, bernard removes the hidden location (the GPS point), the camera’s serial number and the owner’s name from the copy your site shows. A visitor cannot read the place your studio is from your picture. This has been live for new uploads since 6 November 2026, and for new photos brought in from your old site by the move. Photos added before that may still carry the details. Ask your assistant to check one.
• Writes your name into photos you mark as yours. For a photo you have marked as yours, bernard writes your name and your copyright line into the picture file itself, in the standard fields that cameras and photo editors read. bernard never assumes a licence. A photo that is still “rights unknown” gets no copyright line. While the Protect images and video switch is on, the file also says “not for AI training”. The “Whose is it?” answers in the library, which make marking a photo easier, are still coming. See Does Bernard keep my name on my photos?.
• Keeps your private original as proof. bernard keeps your untouched original, a fingerprint of the file, and the date it reached bernard. These facts support a claim. They do not prove by themselves that you made the work. See Someone copied my photo. How do I show it is mine?.
• Shows you which AI companies read your pages. The AI traffic report counts the visits of AI companies that say who they are. See Is AI reading my site?.

What bernard is building now

These are not live yet. Do not rely on them until you see them in your library.

• A clear “no” to AI training crawlers. bernard will ask the AI companies’ training crawlers to stay out, in the files those crawlers are meant to read. bernard will also refuse the training crawlers that say who they are. A crawler that gives a false name cannot be stopped this way. Search engines and the AI assistants that send you visitors stay welcome. See Can I stop AI companies training on my photos and video?.
• Your rights page. Each picture will have a place to point to for your terms.
• An evidence pack. One click will gather your original, its fingerprint and its date, to send to a solicitor.

Why the name in the file matters

The law protects this kind of information. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, a person who knowingly and without authority removes or changes electronic rights management information can face action from the copyright owner. The information can name the work, its author or its owner, or give the terms of use. The person must know, or have reason to believe, that doing so helps or hides an infringement. So your name in the file can help a claim against someone who strips it on purpose. It does not stop them stripping it.

AI training and UK law

AI companies learn from large collections of text and images. Many owners ask if the law lets them do this with your pictures. The honest answer is that the law is not settled.

• The UK has one exception for this. It lets a person with lawful access make copies for text and data analysis for non-commercial research. UK IPO guidance says the same. The exception does not cover commercial use.
• In March 2026 the government published a report on copyright and artificial intelligence. It says a broad exception with an opt-out is no longer the government’s preferred way forward. It does not change the law.
• So today the UK has no legal opt-out for you to switch on. When bernard writes your wishes into a file and refuses a crawler, that is a clear statement of your choice, made in the ways AI companies say they read. It is not a legal right that UK law creates.

Whether a particular use of your work by an AI company is lawful is a question for a solicitor.

The promise bernard is building to

When the work above is live, this is the promise. We say no in every way the law and the big AI companies recognise. We turn away the robots that admit who they are. We keep the evidence. We do not promise that nothing can be copied, and nothing on an open website can promise that.

For the longer story, read Why no website can lock your images, and what works instead, Can you stop AI companies training on your work? and Hey AI, you can show me in search results, but don’t steal my work.