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CBDTPA == TCPA Enablement Act?

Posted by Hemos on from the regulate-what-you-know dept.

Ian Hill writes "This e-mail from Lucky Green, courtesy of Cryptome, provides an interesting look into the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. It suggests that this is the technology pointed to by Sen. Hollings in his CBDTPA. Frightening quote: "'trusted' here means that the members of the TCPA trust that the TPM [Trusted Platform Module] will make it near impossible for the owner of that motherboard to access supervisor mode on the CPU without their knowledge, they trust that the TPM will enable them to determine remotely if the customer has a kernel-level debugger loaded, and they trust that the TPM will prevent a user from bypassing OS protections by installing custom PCI cards to read out memory directly via DMA without going through the CPU.""

6 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. Mail our senator by isorox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thats right, write out a letter, stick a stamp on it and mail to your senator with your worries.

    Then when you've done that mail your local journalist, your radio station, your dog. If it gets desperate say that you worry your inability to control hardware that you have bought in your own home is extremely dangerous and could allow terroists to gain hold of it - that'll work. Failing that say that without control over your own products, your children will be able to access all sorts of illegal information and get into trouble. Dont bother putting in methdos, politicions dont care about them!

    1. Re:Mail our senator by isorox · · Score: 2

      I sent a fax to my MP (Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter, UK), using an online service. Got a reply a few days later.

  2. Why isn't this on the front page? by jdclucidly · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Isn't this news flash insanely important enough for everyone to see?

    1. Re:Why isn't this on the front page? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, it's purely rumor. Some guy wrote an email to some other guy saying that a dead bill might do something which we all knew it was designed to do anyway (take away our computing freedom, not necessarily enable the TCPA).

    2. Re:Why isn't this on the front page? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 2

      Companies like MS, Intel, Compaq etc.

      At least one of which (Intel) has directly critisized the SSSCA.

      Even if this bill comes to nothing (as we all hope it will) this is still a prophecy which could well come true.

      I guess I'm just an all-or-nothing kind of guy. If I'm not given permission to copy and distribute content, I don't really care if there are technical measures to stop me. In fact, I'd actually prefer it, because then at least I don't have to worry about others who do circumvent the technology driving up the prices for me.

      Which is not to say that I like the CBDTPA. I want the choice to use non-DRM protected content, and the ability to buy a system which isn't filled with expensive DRM technologies which I don't plan to use. If the TCPA drives the proprietary content (like slashdot) away from Windows products, so much the better.

  3. Mail our senator? by J'raxis · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let them get their own toilet paper.

    --
    Liberty in your lifetime