Toppan Printing has developed an avatar generation management platform "AVATECT" that prevents spoofing of avatars used in the Metaverse, etc., and will start providing trials in February.

AVATECT is a service that adds NFT and digital watermarks to avatars in addition to managing the avatar itself and authenticating the person. This prevents unauthorized use and spoofing of avatars, and realizes privacy and copyright protection on the Metaverse.

In recent years, it has become possible to easily generate an avatar that resembles the person himself, and Toppan is also providing a service that can automatically generate his own realistic 3D avatar from a single photo. On the other hand, the danger of avatars being generated from photos without the permission or confirmation of the person, spoofing, and unauthorized use are issues, and NFT and digital watermarking are the uniqueness of avatars to reduce such security risks. We have developed this foundation that can prove the authenticity.

(Via Impress)

In David Suarez' 2009 novel Daemon, he describes a meeting between a hacker (Ross) and a cybersecurity expert (Philips). To make sure Dr. Philips can recognize his avatar, he uses her face.

The screen view changed as Philips’s character turned this way and that, checking out the shoppers in the market. Then the POV moved toward a Nubian female 3-D character wearing a black leather corset with a plunging neckline. Something resembling a French-cut steel thong wrapped her shapely hips. She was a hentai cover girl. As the frame moved closer, the Nubian woman turned, revealing what was unmistakably a computer-generated version of Philips’s face.

Mild amusement spread through the audience in the meeting room. Philips ignored it.

On-screen the glowing name over the Nubian avatar read: Cipher. Philips’s recorded voice came in over the speakers:

Philips: Get me an IP for the screen name “Cipher.” That’s spelled c-i-p-h-e-r.

Philips: Mr. Ross. Apparently you can’t resist identity theft. How did you upload my likeness to this game?

Ross: I didn’t upload anything. Players can edit the geometry of their avatars. I sculpted this one to resemble you.

Philips: I didn’t realize you studied my appearance so closely.

Ross: How could I forget you? Besides, I knew you’d try to identify my account in advance of this meeting, but your automated forensics tools don’t know what you look like, Doctor. Your physical appearance is a graphical encryption that the human mind is uniquely qualified to decode.

Philips: That doesn’t make it any less unsettling to have a conversation with myself as a transsexual lingerie model.

Ross: I find it just as uncomfortable being seen with you.