more on Dell to Add Security Chip to PCs

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Paul Biggar <paul.biggar () gmail com>
Reply-To: Paul Biggar <paul.biggar () gmail com>
Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 11:36:24 +0000
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Dell to Add Security Chip to PCs

Dave,

It seems that horrible day has come when my computer will no longer
truly be mine. Since about 2000 we've heard about Palladium and
Trusted Computing waiting in the wings for the day that I can no
longer trust my computer, and my computer demands that it can trust
me.

Digital Rights Management means that you can no longer play media
which is not yours. Or, in its current implementation, you cannot use
something which you have bought, in a way which you are legally
entitled to play it, because the content owners do not wish it. Once
Dell and others start shipping these chips, and Windows provides for
it, then everything must be DRM, and non-DRM applications and hardware
are rendered useless.

Suppose I buy a CD, and want to rip it onto my MP3 player. My MP3
encoder cannot get access to the CDROM, because it is not trusted. To
be trusted, it must be updated to produce only DRMed MP3s (who
controls the list of trusted applications is anyone's guess, but my
money is on the Trusted Computing Alliance, people who it could not be
said have our best interests at heart). But these cannot play on my
MP3 player, because it is not DRMed. A vicious cycle has started.

Note that Trusted Computing provides more abilities to rights holders
than the law does. The US Copyright laws allow for fair use, which
Trusted Computing can prevent. On the other hand, the DMCA will
protect people who hack the Trusted Computing in an effort to reclaim
their right to fair use.The law in Ireland, where I am, does not
outlaw downloading of music, but Trusted Computing will prevent it.
And the new Euro-DMCA will outlaw tampering as in the US.

Richard Stallman, self-proclaimed founder of all that is Free, calls
it Treacherous Computing. Although I can't agree with the aging hippy
on many things, I think this is an excellent name for it. I would urge
your readers to not buy any of this Treacherous kit, to not update to
Treacherous software, and to not succumb to _Trusted_ Computing. It
will be a cold day in hell before I do.

Sincerely,
Paul Biggar

------ End of Forwarded Message


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