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Intel to Build DRM into Next-Generation CPUs
mdecerbo writes "The Boston Globe is reporting
that next year's Intel processors will include
hardware support for Microsoft's "Palladium"
DRM system. There are chilling privacy implications. AMD, here I come."
Let's all just keep our current computers.
I mean if you do not plan to run Palladium, where's the problem? This would not stop you from doing anything you do now. Doesn't the OS have to support DRM also in order for this to have any effect?
The vast majority of people (read; the EULA oblivious) will not adopt it anyway and;
Microsoft will not make it impossible to talk to untrusted machines.
I won't draw any conclusions from this and I won't talk about how the world is going to hell in a digital handbasket, but it's food for thought.
My
Limekiller
Intel and Microsoft, between Windows Media Center and the forthcoming Palladium might as well just tack on "if you don't want all this crap, please see www.apple.com" at the end of each ad.
While i've been telling my Windows colleagues that this was coming - none of them believed.
And now - bonus - XP.5 and Intel both, in the same week - prove me right.
God.. its good to buy from the "most dangerous company to Intellectual Property today"
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
Via Here I Come. :-)
I will buy Taiwan Hardware, I scrap My Harley Davidson and Buy and Daewoo right now
Ceci n'est pas une Signature !
Did you guys forget the rumors that Microsoft's support of X86-64 was due to AMD standing behind them?
If Intel is doing this, AMD will be right behind them. They'll do anything to preserve their relationship with Microsoft.
Don't get me wrong, I love AMD, but they're just as corporate as the rest of the semiconductor industry.
AMD, here I come
I don't think you'll find much comfort in AMD. They are in that DRM working group with MS & Intel. They are also much more eagar to suck up to MS. Their ex-CEO Jerry Whatever said something like: "Wake up, MS has won. I ain't supporting Linux.." in that interview a couple of months ago (it was posted here). I think more appropriate response is: VIA/Apple here I come!
I had thought that this "feature" was able to be disabled in the BIOS. If that were the case, the rest of this problem is a software crack and then DRM isn't an issue. Am I wrong about the simplicity of this?
the grand majority of hits to slashdot come form windows machines.
-linux... they can't *give* that shit away.
You might want to look at the poll today. At this time only 34% are Linux users and 47% are using 95 thru XP.
Besides, eventually Linux will not be 'allowed' to run on this processor. So you *better* care.
First off, the odds, according to today's poll, are about 30%.
That said, this affects everyone. Mind you, I'm told that Palladium will always be able to be shut off via the BIOS, so you can always buy a Palladium-enabled processor and make it act as if it isn't. That's not the problem, really.
The problem is that Palladium is hardware-embedded Digital Rights Denial. It's paving the way for music and movies that won't play at all unless you have a Palladium-enabled processor. And if you do enable Palladium, you'll be subject to the same restrictive crap that the media cartels have been trying unsuccessfully to push over the last several years. Movies that you can't move to other computers, and that only work as long as you remain subscribed to MovieConglomerate.com or wherever your got them.
Will this all work out in the long run? Well, it depends on how people react. If they continue to reject hightly restricted content, we should be fine. If not, well, say goodbye to the Open Internet. It was fun while it lasted.
Damn, how you never cease to amaze me, Knox. =)
Just because we're not required to use it doesn't mean it won't do anything. When Microsoft controls 95% of the desktop market, and they're regulating those desktops, that gives them a lot of power. And they've proven that they'll stoop low to push out competition.
I won't go any further than that, it would be speculation, but don't tell me that because we're not forced into buying it that it doesn't affect us.
That also doesn't take into account the wonderful people in Congress who are looking at the TCPA as law.
~Dalcius
Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
Suffice to say, all of this is going to blow.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Hey, as long as they don't put serial numbers into their CPUs though, right?
I don't suppose you're familiar with the V-chip and the fact that it's impossible to buy a new television without this asinine and needless expense? This was accomplished with a comparatively tiny V-chip lobby.
Now consider the fact that there will be a huge amount of money (i.e. the content providers) pushing legislation to make certain that ALL computers are sold with DRM. How long do you think that will take? I'm sure they'll be doing it 'for the children', too.
You're not kidding. I start reading stuff like this and I start wondering if its not too late to go analog and give up on computers and do something else.
I mean, once they hammer all the fun out of it by making it like cable TV what's the fucking point?
Not everyone in the world is enamored with DRM. China already distrusts Microsoft products enough to fully embrace linux as their OS of choice. Will the same thing happen to Intel products in China?
It doesn't seem like a very smart business decision to lock yourself out of the fastest-growing market in the world.
Or buy new computers and turn off Palladium. Or just ignore the Windows people and keep using Linux.
Palladium comes down to copy protection of *Windows* software and music in *Windows*, and can, in any event, be disabled.
Worst case Windows users can crack software to make it play even with Palladium turned off, which is pretty much what people already do to attack copy protection on software.
How does it affect us? Why should we care?
And answering "Because MS will make Windows not talk to Linux and isolate it", as some other poster did in these responses, is not good enough. MS has been trying to keep Windows from talking to Linux for a long time.
May we never see th
I mean if you do not plan to run Palladium, where's the problem? This would not stop you from doing anything you do now. Doesn't the OS have to support DRM also in order for this to have any effect?
In short, no.
Consider that if you ever need to pass data from DRM equipped computers to yours, you may need to have DRM installed in order to simply view it.
When everything from a word-processed document to e-mail is encrypted with DRM technologies, and only DRM equipped machines can unencrypt them, you have a *serious* problem.
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
That's the craziest thing that I have ever heard. The processor guys should be happy when someone "borrows" software or uses their computer to rip their CDs to Oggs. Every cent that Intel's and AMD's customers spend on software and media content is one more cent that they aren't spending on computer hardware. More importantly, sharing media and software is increasingly what people want to do with their computers. Given the choice of an old slow PC that allows them to rip MP3s and a new computer that doesn't (and that costs a pile of money) many folks are going to choose to stick with their old hardware. If AMD and Intel think that the PC market it soft now, just wait until they start treating their customer like criminals. Especially since you don't really need a new computer unless you are working with multimedia. If all you want to do is some word processing your old machine is almost certainly fast enough.
You want to know when Linux is going to be truly ready for the home desktop? It will be ready when Microsoft starts really pushing Palladium. Until that time users in North America and Europe will gladly pay a little extra to stick with what they already know (Windows). When Microsoft makes it impossible for people to use their computers like they want, all of a sudden folks are going to realize that Linux isn't that hard to use after all.
These companies are writing their own epitaph.
Welcome to the future, where you have to get permission to run computer instructions. The penalty for "hacking" this system is $500,000 and 5 years in prison. That's right. If you figure out a clever way to play an MP3 file on your TCPA machine, you're eligible for more time than a drunk driver that killed someone is.
The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
It's not just that American business don't trust the US government. Europoean (and other foreign) businesses really don't trust the US government. I don't how much of it was proven, but people say that the NSA was stealing internal Airbus information and sending it to Boeing. Then on top of that, do you think that any foreign government would think for two seconds about buying software that the FBI had back door keys to?
-B
The real question is how obnoxious Microsoft will make the OS restrictions.
Incidentally, we ought to be seeing some Palladium-enabled games soon, ones where modified clients can be detected by the server. That will be how the technology gets debugged.
Microsoft monopoly+Media Monopoly=Palladium for everyone.
Very simply:
1. Palladium-encrypted (broken) content media helps keep Content Industries (contrast with: Artists) alive by giving them control, so they like it.
2. As soon as it's profitable to do so, the CIs will Palladium-encrypt (break) every piece of media they can.
3. When Palladium is available everywhere, it will be profitable for the CIs to digitally Palladium-encrypt (break) every piece of Mass Market Content that they create.
4. Any piece of Palladium-encrypted content--DVD, Music CD, software program--that is not signed will fail to play unless Palladium is there to decrypt it.
5. The MS monopoly (and Intel's and AMD's respective complicity in that monopoly) can make sure that Palladium is available almost everywhere at once.
6. When broken content is the norm, Mac and Linux will not be able to use that content any more without supporting Palladium.
7. Mac and Linux will have to either support Palladium or (illegally!!, in the US) circumvent it to be useful.
8. Linux is not an organization, so it will likely go in both directions at once.
9. Mac is an organization, and it will probably not support circumvention.
This is very, very bad. Our best hope is for a severe Microsoft anti-trust penalty, and for our legislators to wise up and stop passing laws to prop up business plans.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
I have a friend who spends lots of time on newsgroups, Kazaa, etc. copying movies. At the same time, I read articles like this, and spend $10 sending certified delivery confirmed letters to congressmen like Mr. Hollings and businesses like Intel and AMD. This is highly counterproductive. My friend saves $10/month on movie rentals, and I spend $10/month on letters.
I've talked to this person and they say "Oh, I just copy movies I wouldn't rent anyway." (I assume because they are too expensive) They have a valid point since some products are just ridiculously expensive. But they are not helping the problem. If they spent their effort protesting, or finding alternatives as they did pirating, we would be in good shape. I would probably be better off paying them $10/month and having them rent the movies, than to spend it writing letters.
What should I do? Do I turn them in? Do I hassle them? Do I pay them to stop doing it? It's my rights they are taking away, but turning them in seems ridiculous. Is there somethnig we can do in mass that could prevent this problem?