desired: a DRM perpetuum mobile?

[M.R.]

On 09/09/2010 03:29 PM, Karl Auer wrote:
> I would really like to hear what the OP actually seeks to achieve...

He very likely wants to do some DRM-type action: if his adversary
is given ("loaned"?) only that file and nothing else, and the file
is used on a computer and operating system which the "borrower"
(i.e., the adversary, and not the file creator!) controls, he would
like the file to "self-destruct" at the expiration of the loan period.

Needless to say, in such scenario there is simply no way to achieve
what he would like to do.

If, on the other hand, the file creator controls the hardware and
the OS on which the only copy of that loaned file resides at the
point where he would like it to "disappear", any number of simple
tricks will perform the desired action.

marko