On Sunday 21 September 2003 05:45 am, Richard Urwin wrote: > On Sunday 21 Sep 2003 8:04 am, Thomas Williams wrote: > > On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 20:00:33 -0400 > > > > HaywireMac <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > "... > > > First of all, the companies that constitute the Trusted Computing > > > Group include many of the heavyweights of the personal computer > > > industry -- Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Nokia and Intel, > > > among others -- all of which are interested in protecting their > > > interests, not yours. Most important, they propose to do this by > > > advocating legislation that would require every computer sold to > > > have a Trusted Platform Module." > > > >... > > Of course you realize what this really means? Should this get > > implemented, everyone here in the US will start going over the border > > to get their computers and/or only run Linux on it. <grin>
Actually, this is not really all that much of a concern. The way that it will be implemented, much like Palladium (which is the same thing) is that it will be integrated into the processor, it will be on/off enabled, and Linux will not be part of it (not that it needs to be, MS is effectively trying to make an unsecure architecture secure by building thicker doors, and the effort is doomed to failure). The result will be that people will still buy the same computers but you will have two choices, either you run Linux or another competing OS and turn the chip feature off, or you run MS and turn it on. Since MS has been trying from day one to make people make a firm choice between MS and others OS's and not let them have access to the benefits of both, it will simply force people to make the necessary choice. I expect it to be a boon for Linux. All the more so because those people who are willing to be put in a straight jacket to be safe will opt for that platform and leave free computing to those of us who are willing to expend the effort to do it right. > Even more worrying is that it would effectively outlaw Linux. There is > no way to ensure a Linux system runs the platform or runs it securely. > I don't see that bothering the TCG much. Just means that Linux will have to run outside of it. Just like the V-Chip in TV's, you can force manufacturers to install them but you can not mandate that consumers use them. With China on the horizon to soon adopt Linux, I expect to see major market splits very soon. > I haven't read the spec., but I would expect that any TCmodule could be > remotely detected by those it is supposed to work with, ie govenment > and big corporations. If they scan you and you aren't running it you > can expect a visit from the police. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you, but you're still paranoid. Gee, I know all this big brother stuff is supposed to be in vogue but there are 260M people in the US. Even if they wanted to scan everyone's computer, they simply don't have the manpower or time. Hell, they can't even catch muslim terrorists and the subset of those guys are much lower than everybody. -- Bryan Phinney Software Test Engineer
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