1. Selection turned off with CSS
A single style rule, user-select: none, tells the browser not to let you select text in
an element. Nothing appears highlighted when you drag. The text is still on the page —
Reading mode, printing to PDF or an extension that removes the rule bring selection back.
2. Copy, cut and paste events cancelled
A script listens for the copy, cut or paste event and cancels it. You can select the text, but Ctrl+C copies nothing — or the site replaces your clipboard with a "Read more at…" line. Blocking JavaScript for the site or an allow-copy extension stops it. The same trick blocks paste in some forms, for example in "repeat e-mail" fields.
3. Right-click cancelled
A script cancels the contextmenu event so Chrome's menu never opens, often with an alert saying "Right-click disabled". See how to enable right-click.
4. Transparent overlays
An invisible element covers the text, so your clicks land on the overlay instead of the words. Reading mode and the page source ignore overlays.
5. Text that is not text
Some pages show text as an image, inside a canvas, or in a video. No copy-unblocking method helps here, because there is no text to copy — use text recognition such as Image Text to Text.
The practical answer
If you meet copy-protected pages often, Highlight and Copy Protected Text switches off techniques 1–3 with one toggle. For the others, follow how to copy text from a protected website.