From: Ryan Russell/SYBASE <Ryan.Russell@sybase.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 17:09:05 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: [crypto] Avatar Protection?
Message-ID: <9612050108.AA07734@notesgw2.sybase.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


A graphic-designer friend of mine and I were talking
about VRML avatars, and custom design work, and
could he offer a service designing them etc...

His worry is that since everyone in the same virtual
environment as his customer would see the designer 
avatar, wouldn't they also be able to easily rip off
his work?  (or his customer's property, take your pick.)

I wasn't sure...it seems to me that I read something vaguely
along these lines for a cryptography protocol of some sort..
The problem is this:  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?  Assume that a client with no save feature
is not a viable option...too easy to work around.

I suppose an analogy would be: Is there a way for a person to
see the plaintext, but not record it?  I think that question really
answers itself - no.  How about alternatives?  If the server
of the environment only renders "views" (say, certain angles, or
a bitmap) of the avatar, rather than sending the description file?

Any other thoughts?

    Ryan