Charlie wrote: >June 27, 2002 02:16 am, Alastair Scott wrote: ><snip> > >>This - from a well-known academic specialist in security issues - is not >>uninteresting, although written with much asseveration (I would like to >>see proof of the points about mobile phone batteries and toner >>cartridges; such people, in a sense, make their reputation by seeing >>the worst in everything): >> >>http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html >> > >You were correct Alastair. It was considerably _less_ than uninteresting. :-) >Thanks for the link. > >>Coming from a military background (and someone who has no interest in >>online video, ebooks, music or all that), I'm less worried than some; >>the ideas are not new and a lot, really, should have been done by now. >>The general security of PCs is deplorable and software encryption is >>not good enough (the 'encrypted' data flies around unencrypted on the >>bus, along the monitor cable, to and from the keyboard etc. etc. for at >>least part of its existence :) >> > >For the military, for corporations, for government, for that matter for >anyone that wants the technology fine. I do believe that the case could be >made easily that these entities have need for secured hardware, and for >secured software. It's so far into overkill for the average consumer that it >beggars belief. > >>The real issue is whether such solutions are applicable to John Q Public >>or not, and I think they are overkill. They are _certainly_ applicable >>in classified settings! >> > >My revulsion for the entire concept isn't for the "solution" itself per se. >It's the TCPA; which to my mind is the newest of the new oxymorons. > >_Trusted?_ *Microsoft?* *Intel?* *The entire entertainment industry and it's >public lapdogs such as _Senator Fritz_?* I now need to add AMD to this list? > >For all that, what corporation/bureaucracy/political body is truly >trustworthy *sans* public audit? > >I won't play. I refuse to waste money and time to support the myth that >Microsoft, Hollywood, et al and ad nauseum are granted a natural right to >profit by abuse of the consumer. If the next computer that I build myself >this fall is the last new computer I ever _own_ then so be it. > >I did claim, after all, to be a troglodyte. :-) > >>Alastair >> > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? >Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com > Well, it is obvious that it is a real threat to consumers. It does treat the user as the enemy, and it does undermine the GPL.
But soldiers and bullets will likely need to be used to enforce it. TCPA non-compliant processors will be made by VIA and others, most likely, for some time to come, unless legislation is bought to make it illegal to do so or to build a home computer from such. It introduces a split in the Frits and non-Fritz users, which will only widen as time moves on, and it protects entrenched money to the point that revolutionary thoughts may gain impetus. The plain and simple of this is that Microsoft is like a watershed empire. As long as the state controls the water, it is unassailable from within, no matter how rotten it becomes. To date, linux and other fringe enterprises have not been serious competition because the idea is to offer individuals with a will to own their own computers and lives an alternative. Now, with the TCPA/Palladium initiative, if it goes to completion, linux and free software become an external force. Look over history. Every watershed empire was eventually knocked over by an outside force of less technically supplied, less organized barbarians. Will the Fritz users be the watershed, and the non-Fritz the barbarians? Those who don't learn from the mistakes in history are doomed to repeat them. Look at government. In a democratic society, citizens should have the right to audit how their votes were counted and how their taxes were calculated. If we have this, it is possible for government to lock this data away. I think Lord Akton said it well, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." OK what can you do? You can task yourself with educating 5 people over the next 12 months. And ask them to do the same.... That's really all that is required. Civileme
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
