1. An electronic appliance, the electronic appliance comprising: a camera; one or more biometric sensors; a processor; a protected processing environment; a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program code, the program code being operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the electronic appliance to perform steps comprising: receiving an electronic container from a remote electronic appliance, the electronic container containing a digital item; storing the electronic container; obtaining, from a remote location, and separately from the electronic container, one or more rules governing interaction with the digital item; opening the electronic container; authenticating the electronic container and/or the digital item; sending the electronic container to a recipient according to the one or more rules; sending the one or more rules, separately from the electronic container, to the recipient; and using an output of said one or more biometric sensors in an authentication process selected from the group consisting of: applying one or more digital signatures to the digital item, applying one or more seals to the digital item, and applying fingerprint information to the digital item.