Project Life Roulette

Inspiration

To prevent unauthorised access of content and files, current solutions out there include using a key to control access to a file, or allowing a user to download but not run a program. However, they still have certain limitations in protecting digital content. Even with the protection of a file with a key, the owner cannot control how the user alters or misuses the file thereafter, since the file is already in the possession of the users. This is what inspired us to create a better solution that addresses all these limitations.

What it does

We have two features. Feature 1 - the “View Once” feature, which only allows users to open the file once after downloading it. In our code, we implemented this feature such that the user gets however much time to view the file.

Feature 2 - the “No Tamper” feature, which prevents screenshots and the editing/sharing of the content. As we were brainstorming, we thought of how we could further secure the contents of the file even as the user views it once. During that one-time viewing, we will need to ensure that the user cannot save parts of the content or tamper with it. This will further curb the unethical distribution of the content.

How we built it

We built it using Python on Pycharm.

Challenges we ran into

We realised that the point at which the file expires is crucial. We did not use duration to mark when the file expires, so as to make our implementation more universal. This is because we took into account the possibility of a file taking a longer period of time to view, such as long text for the user to read, or a long video to watch. After the user closes the file, the file is promptly deleted, preventing further unauthorised use or distribution. With this “View Once” feature, users will not be able to relook at the distributed content more than once; such a feature proves useful for instances where sensitive or private information needs to be transmitted from one party to another via the Internet. This can greatly minimise the distribution of data to unwanted users, thereby safeguarding the information contained in the digital content.