more on That's probably right - they must have forgotten about that ...

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Wes Felter <wesley () felter org>
Date: April 10, 2006 4:37:32 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: That's probably right - they must have forgotten about  
that ...

> Monday, April 10, 2006 at 11:24 AM EDT
> Did Intel Forget to Mention that Palladium/Trusted Computing DRM is
> Embedded in New Intel Macs?
>
> April 8, 2006
>
> By Alice Hill
> RealTechNews

> http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2915

Dr. Farber,

Along with many people, I am mostly opposed to trusted computing  
because it promotes the idea that computer owners should not be in  
control. But if this article is the best reporting we can get, we  
have no hope of even understanding the situation, let alone having a  
discussion about it.

Just a few examples:

"Did Intel Forget to Mention...": Macs are designed by Apple, not  
Intel. It's Apple's responsibility to tell their customers what is  
inside their machines, not Intel's.

"Palladium/Trusted Computing DRM": These are three different things.  
Palladium is a Windows-specific technology that is not shipping and  
will not be shipped any time soon (if ever). Macs don't contain  
Palladium. The TPM is indeed part of trusted computing, but actually  
using a TPM to implement strong DRM is very difficult - it requires  
the OS to be redesigned to provide mandatory security.

"Intel has embedded “Trusted Computing” DRM protection in its  
Infineon chip": Obviously the author is not aware that Infineon is  
the name of a chip manufacturer; an Infineon TPM has nothing to do  
with Intel.

Apparently Apple is trying to use the TPM to lock OS X to Apple  
hardware, but it doesn't work and can't work. This is not surprising  
when you consider that the TPM was never designed to do that. In the  
real world I've seen no evidence that the TPM is useful for evil  
purposes -  I see it as yet another "security theater" boondoggle  
that will waste money without benefiting Apple or its customers. But  
at least it won't be any worse than software-only DRM.

Wes Felter - wesley () felter org



-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/