more on 2 on FROM INTEL -- responding to continued misinformation on IP

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Drzyzgula <bob () drzyzgula org>
Date: June 8, 2005 11:04:15 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: "Whiteside, Donald M" <donald.m.whiteside () intel com>
Subject: Re: [IP] FROM INTEL -- responding to continued  
misinformation on IP


On Wed, Jun 08, 2005 at 07:21:19PM -0400, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Whiteside, Donald M" <donald.m.whiteside () intel com>
> Date: June 8, 2005 7:01:36 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: responding to continued misinformation on IP
>
>
> Dave,
>
> I have followed the IP discussion with growing concern, as the
> ‘thread’ is based on an incorrect assertion that Intel has designed-
> in embedded DRM technologies into the Pentium D processor and the
> Intel 945 Express Chipset family.  This is not accurate.  We are
> working with many application vendors (including those that offer
> DRMs) that are designing their products to be compatible with the
> Intel platforms. While we believe that DRMs are bringing new and
> exciting digital media experiences to our customers, Intel did not
> embed DRM technologies into the Pentium D and Intel 945 Express
> Chipset family.
>
> Donald Whiteside
>
> VP Corporate Technology Group
>
> Intel Corporation

Dave,

But then one just has to wonder: What, exactly, was Intel
talking about in Australia? According to Julian Bajkowski,
reporting for Computerworld Today, Mr. Graham Tucker,
an Intel employee, "publicly confirmed Microsoft-flavored
DRM technology will be a feature of Pentium D and 945."
Mr. Bajkowski quotes Mr. Tucker as stating "[The] 945g
[chip set] supports DRM, it helps implement Microsoft's
DRM ... but it supports DRM looking forward." Elsewhere
in that article, Mr. Bajkowski claimed that "Intel said
it is embedding digital rights management within in its
latest dual-core processor Pentium D and accompanying 945
chip set," but Mr. Tucker himself does not appear to have
been quoted as having himself used the word "embedded". [1]

Later, Computerworld Today Australia released a
retraction which stated "The Intel Pentium D Processor
and the Intel 945 Express Chipset family do not have
unannounced embedded DRM technologies".  But this item also
includes the statement "Many Intel products today support
several existing copy protection or content protection
technologies." [2]

After this second item, of course, any long-time sufferer
of press releases would conclude that the Pentium D and
945 chipset merely embed pre-existing DRM technologies
of which we had merely missed the announcements. Now
Mr. Whiteside assures us that "Intel did not embed DRM
technologies into the Pentium D and Intel 945 Express
Chipset family." However, this still leaves us with the
word "support" [3], as in "support several existing copy
protection or content protection technologies", and we
just can't help but wonder what is meant by this. "Support",
of course, could be as simple as providing an instruction
set in which the DRM technology may be implemented. But
this seems awfully generic -- surely this must be true
of virtually any modern processor architecture, and it
would be pretty darned lame for Intel to have made a fuss
over it in the way that they have if that's all that's
going on.

Thus, "support" must mean something more than merely
providing a modern instruction set but something less than
"embedded". I can see why Mr. Whiteside does not want to
engage in a debate, because this is quickly turning into
a game of "twenty questions" [4], and I expect that were we
to have honest and forthcoming answers from Intel, your
readership would likely win -- I believe we can even
safely skip the canonical breadbox question.

--Bob Drzyzgula

[1] <http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121027,00.asp>
[2] <http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23708>
[3] It could also suggest that the DRM is embedded in some
    standard Intel componant other than the Pentium D or 945,
    but we'll just set that aside for the moment, since they
    were reportedly talking about these two devices specifically
    at the event in question.
[4] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Questions>






Begin forwarded message:

From: "B.B." <ip () bear is-a-geek com>
Date: June 8, 2005 7:47:25 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] FROM INTEL -- responding to continued  
misinformation on IP


Dave,

He seems to be side-stepping the issue completely on this.

I think that this 'thread' is not really based on the inaccuracies of
the embedded technologies in previous chips.

I tend to read that the concerns of this 'thread' is the ultimate
control of information on computers which will lock out users of other
platforms access to information and prevent individuals from producing
their own 'entertainment' media.

If Mr. Whiteside can directly address the issues of content control and
how it would affect users of other computer platforms (read NOT
Microsoft), then I would begin to take his positions more seriously.
Especially, I want to know what is this 'exciting digital media
experience ' to which he is referring. Exciting for whom?

On Wednesday, 2005-06-08 at 19:21 -0400, Mr. Whiteside wrote:

-----
Dave,



I have followed the IP discussion with growing concern, as the
‘thread’ is based on an incorrect assertion that Intel has designed-
in embedded DRM technologies into the Pentium D processor and the
Intel 945 Express Chipset family.  This is not accurate.  We are
working with many application vendors (including those that offer
DRMs) that are designing their products to be compatible with the
Intel platforms. While we believe that DRMs are bringing new and
exciting digital media experiences to our customers, Intel did not
embed DRM technologies into the Pentium D and Intel 945 Express
Chipset family.



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