AMD Opteron to support Palladium

Jim Norton writes "This article is just a reminder that AMD is just as guilty as Intel in supporting TCPA / Palladium. AMD has announced that Opteron will be compatible with the Palladium Initiative and that AMD is part of the 'Trusted Computing Alliance'."

Comments

Addendum

[Ridge]

Note that apparently the Opteron (Autobots, transform!), will support untrusted/unlicensed content as well. [neowin.net].

Story is Incorrect (perhaps)

[whovian]

AMDZone says differently:

Update: AMD has contacted The Inquirer and indeed Opteron will not support Palladium. Apparently that was some creative writing on the part of the outfit that posted the story.

Re:Story is Incorrect (perhaps)

[whovian]

AMDmb adds further:

AMD's Opteron won't reject unlicensed content - Ron Goldin - Fri, Sep 20, 2002 - 10:46 AM
Palladium... just that word sends shivers down my spine.. but it seems AMD is trying to smooth things over a bit and take away the shakes.
In fact, according to an AMD UK representative, AMD's Opteron products will run any kind of content in the future -- contrart to the report in The Age, on which our original report was based.
Part of the content in The Age failed to distinguish between comments Moorhead made and conjecture, AMD said. [emphasis added]
Source: The Inquirer - More Information

Not all documents are locked documents

[yerricde]

Hollywood and the music industry are lobbying hard to make DRM mandatory in all new devices

Once the TCPA system becomes more widespread, Hollywood will have less room to bitch because there will be a Secure Memory Space(tm)(patent) in the most popular consumer operating system, and Hollywood studios will be able to provide Video On Demand services within that space.

and existing laws here and in the US make it a crime to switch it off.

Not exactly. The Palladium and TCPA systems simply provide a way to lock down data such that only specific applications running on one machine can use it. In order for Palladium or TCPA to actually restrict anything, the content provider must make the choice to lock down the data (conforming Compact Discs are not considered locked down). This doesn't give the RIAA labels an absolute oligopoly, as it's still possible for artists to Not Lock Down(tm) their .ogg files.

The public TCPA information stresses that only TCPA apps will use the TCPA memory space. Microsoft's Palladium materials make the same claim. And you'll apparently be able to turn off the systems in the BIOS setup, which will have only one effect: apps that use those systems will throw up an alert box to the effect "The locked document 'Love Me Now.wma' could not be opened because Palladium was not found." They do NOT force all documents to be locked documents.

Let 'em know ...

[rlp]

Don't like Palladium - write to Intel and AMD and tell them
that you won't buy processors that support Palladium.
Intel backed-off CPU-ID's (for the Pentium III) quickly when
they realized that it would cost them sales. In general,
pissing off your best customers is not a smart long term
business practice.

If you write - remember: be concise and polite:

Intel:

Chairman: Andy S. Grove
CEO: Craig R. Barrett

Corporate Offices:
2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, California 95052, USA

AMD:
Chairman: W. J. Sanders III
CEO: Hector de J. Ruiz

Corporate Offices:
One AMD Place
P.O. Box 3453
Sunnyvale CA 94088, USA