From: Nelson Minar <nelson@media.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 12:29:47 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: [crypto] Avatar Protection?
In-Reply-To: <9612050108.AA07734@notesgw2.sybase.com>
Message-ID: <cpaiv6graus.fsf@hattrick.media.mit.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>Is there a way for a user to "view" the client's avatar (and in this
>sense, the user usually has to receive a copy of the code to render
>the avatar and render it on the local machine) but not save a copy?

Ah, the age-old question. This is the same question as "is there a way
for me to show a web page to someone and not let them copy it?", "is
there a way I can loan someone my CD and not let them copy it?", etc.
If you have control of the viewer, the answer is trivially yes. If you
don't, then it's not.

Digital watermarks / fingerprints are one alternative - if someone
steals it, you can at least prove whom it was stolen from. Or you
might be able to exploit some of the structure of VRML to show people
an avatar but not ever reveal the *whole* thing for copying. But in
general, this sort of problem seems to demand a social solution
(intellectual property law), not technical.

ObLogos: all things are true