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The cottage industry of custom VR sex avatars

Do you own the rights to your virtual body?

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Matt Silverman

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The Daily Dot (Licensed)

The rise of powerful, free 3D modeling software has emboldened a cottage industry of VR enthusiasts to create custom sex avatars for virtual porn. But what happens when members of this community start requesting models that look like celebrities, ex-girlfriends, classmates, and co-workers?

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Samantha Cole covers VR and online sex for Vice, and her recent piece, titled “They Can’t Stop Us,” chronicles the sometimes well-meant but often seedy underbelly of a marketplace that trades in virtual belly buttons, boobs, and bespoke faces that VR pornographers can’t get enough of.

This week on 2 Girls 1 Podcast, Alli and Jen (actors who perform weird internet text live on stage) chat with Cole about the ethics of this VR sex marketplace, the difference between public figures and regular people when it comes to likeness rights, and all the catching up our legal system has to do.

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2 Girls 1 Podcast is hosted by Allison Goldberg and Jennifer Jamula, and is produced and edited by Matt Silverman in New York City. Production assistance is provided by the Podglomerate.

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