this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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141
This free font can trick AI scrapers into swallowing gibberish instead of your content (www.techspot.com)
submitted 5 hours ago by FTonsilStones@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Most mass scrapers, on the other hand, simply grab the raw HTML underneath. ShieldFont exploits this difference through an automated process called OpenType glyph substitution.

That said, because the whole defense rests on scrapers reading code rather than screens, taking a screenshot of a shielded page and running OCR on the image can still recover the real words.

Screen readers used by blind readers also work from the code, so they read the decoys aloud. ShieldFont ships with a beta feature that provides those readers with the real text instead.

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[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Who cares if gibberish text is copyrighted? Putting your work in a funky text doesn’t make what you wrote no longer copyrighted.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Say someone else takes the visual result of the font’s output and re-posts it as plain text.

If anyone searches for that text, their version will come up as the first (and only) published version. Anyone who tries to reference it will cite their version instead of yours. You’d have to convince the court that a clearly different text you published earlier is really the same thing, as long as you view it with a special font that magically transforms it into the text you’re trying to claim—the judge would just as likely think you’re a copyright troll.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I’m not sure who told you posting things online is how you prove copyright, but it’s not.

[–] Aqivex@fedinsfw.app 1 points 1 hour ago

You entirely sidestepped the scenario and issue. In the example given, the copyrighted work is being produced directly onto a medium that obfuscates its provenance, literally. Yet, gives an opening for another to publish it in such a way, that they could claim it's their copyrighted work. They would be lying, and they would be wrong, but then you would have to prove to a body composed of ancient mummies who uphold an ancient code, why one of the few ways they thought they understood technology and codified into their verification process, isn't actually showing them the truth this time. Do you know how to defend a copyright claim?