>>The way around this is to create a second model that has only the fields you want to update. In fact, that's probably best practice as you only query the data you really need.
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>Is it the only way? Say, I still want to be able to change ModifiedOn, ModifiedBy if I am editing and the first two if I am inserting.
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>In other words, I may want to set ReadOnly attribute but conditionally.

You could leave the EF model as is but create additional MVC models. More work though since you'd have to update the EF model from the MVC model in code....