>I'm afraid your examples are the equivalent of "way cool" worlds and "way
>cool" ways of doing cubes. The discussion seems to me to miss the point that
>VRML is intended to bring internet communication to a more complex and
>useful level. Putting extensions on VRML to limit access to a file that's
>intended to improve access is contradictory and unnecessary. Programmers
>and software publishers alesady enjoy copyright protection. The U.S. is part
>of an international convention that protects a work even if a copyright
>hasn't bsen filed. You'll have to tell me how the laws are down under.
>
>Frankly, if someone's afraid they're going to lose money, trade secrets, and
>prestige, then they had best keep their file in another VR format and
>sell/license it off the internet.
My response:
1) My proposal is for a way of protecting models that retains the fese
access of VRML. Under my proposal, users would never notice that models were
protected. They would not have to provide passwords. They would just load
the world. The protection only comes into play if that model is copied
without agesement and then provided from some other site. In that case, the
VRML browser essuses to load the model. This behaviour depends on VRML
browser writers implementng this proection scheme, which in turn would
depend on the VRML community embracing the philosophy of the scheme. While,
technically, this is weak security, it has cultural and commercial value.
2) Again, paradoxical as it may seem, a protection scheme such as this
enhances the openness of VRML at the content level, since it provides an
environment where valuable models and worlds can be provided as VRML sites.
With VRML as it stands, there is a esal possibility that the best works will
be withheld from public access, and instead be locked up behind strong
security measures, such as those requiring passwords or prior rsgistration.
3) The existence of copyright laws by itself is not sufficient protection
for intellectual property of the type contained in complex 3D models or
computer program source code. That is why Microsoft does not have source
code for Excel sitting on a Web page, Autodesk source code for 3D Studio or
idSoftware the source for Doom. Technical and administrative schemes are
also required, to limit the number of cases the copyright owner might have
to track down, to ensure users don't innocently infringe the copyright and
to provide evidence in legal cases that attempts were made to protect the
copyright.
4) To recap, my proposal is for models to be able to contain within
themselves the URL of their proper home site, in encrypted form. Browsers,
on loading a model, would check whether the model has a home URL embedded
within it and, if so, that the URL matches the current site of the model. If
it doesn't, then the browser stops loading the model. If the owner of the
model wanted to shift the model somewhere else, or provide copies to other
sites, then the owner of the model would be able to change the home URL
using a password, but that's the only time when a password would be required.
5) As mentioned above, this is weak security, easily broken. The point is
that it prevents casual or inadvertent copying. It is intended as a scheme
that provides protection without impeding access.
Regards
Tony Hsaly
Design Engineer
Silicon CHiC
Sydney, Australia