On Sun, 16 Jul 2000, Benjamin Scott wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Jul 2000, Derek Martin wrote:
> > Today, Todd Littlefield gleaned this insight: WON'T buy a PIII though, due
> > to the chip ID. Big brother is here baby...
>
> Right. And I suppose you don't have any network cards in your system,
> either, right? Or ever use the same IP address more then once? And you
> change your email address with each posting, of course? </SARCASM>
Many (perhaps most) ethernet cards allow you to change the MAC address. My
IP address changes periodically, and is generally not assumed to be
static. I don't accept cookies. blah blah blah.
> The whole Pentium CPU Serial Number thing was blown out of proportion in all
> the wrong directions. A unique, per-chip ID adds nothing -- in terms of being
> able to track individual workstations -- that we don't already have (see
> above). It was, in fact, less dangerous then network addresses, since network
> addresses have to be propagated outside your machine in order for you to
> communicate, while a CPU S/N is local unless you specifically offer it up over
> higher level protocols.
Bah. There are Java applets that will steal your CPU ID.
> I advocate awareness of privacy issues, but I don't like press-induced
> hysteria over something that isn't really a danger, especially when it
> distracts from *real* issues.
Just because there are other invasions that are similar, doesn't mean that
we shouldn't fight each new one that pops up. Your privacy IS being
invaded on a daily basis, but most people have become numb to it. I'm just
not one of them.
--
Derek Martin
System Administrator
Mission Critical Linux
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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