Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On a sunny day (Tue, 20 Apr 2004 03:59:05 -0400) it happened Tony Hill
<hilla_nospam_20@yahoo.ca> wrote in
<9pf980dqa002h641n6p8ffe17diqvmv8h5@4ax.com>:
>On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 17:14:55 GMT, Jan Panteltje
><pNaonStpealmtje@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>On a sunny day (Sun, 18 Apr 2004 18:01:10 -0400) it happened Tony Hill
>><hilla_nospam_20@yahoo.ca> wrote in
>><aoq580pcj5tvqde7kd6ht8ji13n9ktoh3j@4ax.com>:
>>
>>>So, is this like the processor serial number? Not exactly. The TCG
>>>technology has some potentially very useful technology while the
>>>Processor Serial Number did not. On the flip side, there are some
>>>potentially downsides to this TCG stuff, while the serial number was
>>>pretty much pointless.
>>But does it have some unique ID?
>
>My understanding is that yes, you can uniquely identify a PC by it's
>Trusted Computing Processor (or whatever the name of it is today).
>
>>Not that give a .... my IP address and ethernet Hwaddr already uniquely
>>ID me.
>>But this I KNOW, in my view users should be informed if they are traced.
>
>They should be, but aren't today. I don't think this Trusted
>Computing stuff is really going to change things much here, as you
>mentioned the ethernet MAC address is already unique as far as 99.9%
>of all users are concerned (yes, it can be changed, but virtually no
>one does change it). Similarly you can get a serial number from your
>hard drive to uniquely identify a PC, or you can go the Microsoft
>route and get a sort of hash of all the hardware in the system.
>
>The TCG stuff works in almost the exact same way as all of this, it
>just automates things a tiny bit more, ie the application just
>executes one bit of code specifically designed to get this information
>rather than pulling it out of a variety of sources.
>
>Note that this doesn't mean that web sites can secretly spy on you
>because of this. As long as your browser isn't COMPLETELY broken
>(read: as long as you are not running Internet Explorer with it's
>enormous multitude of security holes) it's not possible to execute
>arbitrary code like this just by viewing a web page. However if you
>install an app on your system it could well read the TCG number and
>report back to the app writer.
What really worries me about all this, is that your PC will possibly
become just a terminal to a MS authentication server (or the States
or whatever regulating authority), where they will be able to deny
even net-access if you do not run THEIR software and hardware.
OR, force you to upgrade.
Something like customer binding.. but then with a big lead ball on your
foot.
Absolutely these systems should NOT be part of a processor, and given a
choice I would buy from the competition.
Not only that, it is technically very possible to have some logic in
the mobo chipset that stores keyboard strokes, and sends these over the
net upon request to some NSA(for example) URL.
With only 2 processor manufacturers and just a few chipset makers, this
is a real danger.
It would become a real disaster if the system was hacked, as every bodies
secrets would be out.
We should really do whatever we can both technically and politically to
avoid such a system becoming a reality.
I do not want to give up my computing to some big corporation, MS, or a
state controlled by it.
I do not want to see Linux killed by it (and that included IBM too) by
having a system that lets only 'authenticated' PCs connect to the net.
the servers will of cause be the next target from that group, and once
they get their hands on the servers, or routers even, they can do what
they want.
IF laws need making, let us start giving food to the lawyers by having them
look at protection of free Internet traffic, independent of system, country,
OS, and everything else.
JP
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