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An Overview of Legal Issues Surrounding Cybernetic Avatars (CAs) and Measures to Protect Personal Rights Focusing on AI Autonomy and Blockchain Disclosure Models

  • Legal Theory & Practice Review
  • Abbr : LTPR
  • 2026, 14(1), pp.89~148
  • Publisher : The Korea Society for Legal Theory and Practice Inc.
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law
  • Received : February 5, 2026
  • Accepted : February 26, 2026
  • Published : February 28, 2026

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ABSTRACT

Cybernetic Avatar (CA) technology is a new technology that blurs the lines between the real and virtual worlds, overcoming physical limitations through remote control and AI-based autonomous behavior. However, the increasing use of CAs has raised various legal issues, including violations of personal rights, liability, and theft of virtual identities. The following legal issues and protection measures centering on AI autonomy, personal rights protection, and blockchain disclosure models are discussed. A bird’s eye view of the legal issues surrounding cybernetic avatars: CAs go beyond simple avatars and take the form of remote-controlled robots and autonomous AI agents. The primary issue is the legal subjectivity and personality rights of cybernetic avatars. When CAs embody a user’s persona, the question arises as to whether avatars are granted personality rights (portrait rights, name rights, etc.). There is also a lack of legal consensus on whether victims of sexual crimes or defamation committed against avatars should be considered actual users. When AI makes decisions and acts on its own (including physical contact), it is unclear who will be held responsible for any accidents that occur: the human operator or the AI ​​developer. AI autonomy and liability for tortious acts must be reviewed. Deepfakes, hacking, and identity theft pose a high risk of data privacy violations, posing digital risks. Measures to Protect Personal Rights: Digital repersonalization must be considered. Personality protections for virtual humans and avatars must be strengthened, and existing publicity rights (the right to commercially exploit a user’s likeness, voice, etc.) must be expanded to apply to AI environments. Physical and psychological harm must also be addressed. Measures against defamation and harassment in virtual environments must be established with the same level of legal binding as in the real world. AI Autonomy and Responsibility Model: We need to discuss limited legal personality (electronic personhood). We need to discuss ‘electronic personhood,’ which imposes limited legal liability on highly autonomous AI. Post-event supervision and regulation are necessary. A data-driven accountability and regulatory system for AI systems’ illegal activities must be established. Building trust based on a blockchain disclosure model: To ensure the secure use of CA technology, a blockchain-based registration and authentication system is proposed. A CA authentication and registration system (CA Notarization) is required. Remote operators (User Authentication) and CA identities (CA Authentication) are registered on the blockchain to transparently disclose the existence and connectivity of CAs. Decentralized IDs (DIDs) and autonomy management are crucial. Distributed ledger technology securely records interactions between AI agents and prevents unauthorized duplication or forgery. The identity of AI agents is authenticated through blockchain infrastructure, such as the Agent Registry. Alternative solutions must be developed to ensure data reliability and transparency. By recording all CA activity logs on the blockchain, responsible parties can be quickly and accurately identified in the event of illegal activity. CA technology is at a point where it must find a balance between protecting personal rights and technological autonomy. Strengthening legal responsibility for AI autonomy and introducing a blockchain disclosure model to ensure the reliability and security of CA will be key protection measures.

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