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Researchers Looking at Alternatives to Palladium

An anonymous reader writes "Some folks at Stanford have been looking at an alternative architecture for doing trusted computing (ala Palladium) based on using Virtual Machines. They presented a brief paper describing their work a couple weeks ago at the USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems . In their paper they also discuss a bunch of non-DRM applications of Trusted Computing such as distributed firewalls, improving P2P security, preventing DDOS, and even strengthening civil liberty protections."

221 comments

  1. Well for a start. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
  2. There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anybody from trusting anybody else now. We could create distrib-firewalls if we wanted to.

    The fact is DRM takes away the PEOPLES' rights to choose who to trust.

    1. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Keeper · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's a backwards statement.

      DRM lets you send stuff to people you don't trust, because you trust that the software will prevent the people you do not trust from taking actions you wish to prevent.

      It has nothing to do with defining who YOU trust.

    2. Re:There's nobody stoping... by interiot · · Score: 3, Insightful

      DRM in the hands of monopolies is a way to take things away. DRM in the hands of corporations who value control above anything else is a way to take things away.

    3. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Actually what keeps you from trusting just anybody now is the total openness of the PC architecture.

    4. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >>>That's a backwards statement.

      No, DRM is backward thinking.

      >>>DRM lets you send stuff to people you don't trust,

      WAIT. Why would you send stuff to person X if you dont trust them? It's akin to yelling on a soapbox on main street in New York City.

      >>>because you trust that the software will prevent the people you do not trust from taking actions you wish to prevent.

      If you dont trust them, dont give them anything.

      >>>It has nothing to do with defining who YOU trust.

      Yeah it does. If I tell somebody a secret, does their tounge prevent them from telling anybody except who I trust? No.

      A better analogy is that simple Linux box. If I know you and have a low level trust, you get an account. Better friend and better trust = more priv's.

      If I dont know you, but you're very trustworthy, you get "Access Denied". Guess why...

      The key is I want to decide who gets what rights over my stuff. I dont TRUST the computer "program" as I can override my trust "rights".

    5. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Keeper · · Score: 2

      Yup. Amazing, corporations want to keep you from copying the stuff they sell and giving it away to all your friends. Go figure.

      If you don't like it, don't use it. I won't buy anything that "limits" my fair rights uses. If everyone else takes the same stance, it'll flop and the industry will move on to another way to screw people. If people do accept it and it becomes the defacto standard, I'll just have more money in my bank account to put towards a new car...

    6. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Geek+of+Tech · · Score: 3, Interesting
      DRM lets you send stuff to people you don't trust, because you trust that the software will prevent the people you do not trust from taking actions you wish to prevent.

      Well ya, you're right, but in the case it's be used, we are the people the RIAA, MPAA and everyone else doesn't trust. We, being anyone with any form of access to a computer.

      So the question (or just one of the main) is, Why should I invest in a platform that will keep me from copying/burning/reading/deleting/modifing/anything else you could possible ever want to do you data? Do I want to plainly accept the fact that people selling me content dont trust me to get out the Wal-mart parking lot without trying to steal their intellectual property?

      Digital Rights Management is nothing of the kind. In all honesty, it is Digital Rights Prevention.

      --
      Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
    7. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      stopping

    8. Re:There's nobody stoping... by chill · · Score: 1

      So the question (or just one of the main) is, Why should I invest in a platform that will keep me from copying/burning/reading/deleting/modifing/anything else you could possible ever want to do you data? Do I want to plainly accept the fact that people selling me content dont trust me to get out the Wal-mart parking lot without trying to steal their intellectual property?

      Because it isn't YOUR DATA?

      Forget the RIAA and MPAA for a moment. The world does not revolve around geeks ripping DVDs and CDs. Start thinking about businesses that produce products. Start thinking about document control mechanisms that make certain the worker building widget X is actually looking at a valid part spec and drawing. I mean the exact revision.

      The ISO 9000 series and QS 9000 series of certifications (QA is automotive industry) are certifying the following of quality policies, procedures and processes. Accurate document control is a MUST.

      Businesses NEED the ability to control their data, not only from theft but from erroneous use.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    9. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dont take against you, but talking about the Riaa and Mpaa like that will only label you as a lunatic. And even those issues are bigger and more understandable than what most people give them.

      If the Riaa and Mpaa do not trust people with the media, why show it? They, in effect, release the idea to everybody when they put some show/song in mass media.

      Second, I can determine who to trust, to break the trust in extreme measures, and to create trust between single and groups of people. They prove their trustworthiness by their actions, as do I (reciprocating trust- if 1 breaks, both break). That's just simple human logic.

      A computer just follows the commands it was given. The back doors, if any, are given to a select few. It's too dumb to determine fair use, or an extreme measure.

      My premise is that you CAN control usage digital rights on your box RIGHT NOW. But once you carelessly (un or intentional) let go the data, it's out there. Any sort of global trust/restriction scheme is just ridicilous

    10. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Jordy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, corporations want to control what you do with the works they sell you, something copyright nor first sale doctrine does not give them the right to do.

      For instance, a book publisher can not sell you a book you're not allowed to resell. They also can not forbid you from reading a book more than once or reading the book to your child.

      DRM enables copyright holders to completely eliminate used sales and move the entire world to a pay-per-view world. Even more, it allows the copyright holders to have a perpetual copyright; one that will never expire for as long as the work is encrypted.

      You will not "own" anything. Sure technically you own your DRM'ed digital music downloads, but just try to resell them.

      The "value" of DRM'ed goods is significantly less than physical goods, but people won't realize that until laws get put in place forcing retailers to mark these goods as such.

      --
      The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
    11. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Cyno · · Score: 1

      Why would anybody want to create a distributed firewall?

    12. Re:There's nobody stoping... by interiot · · Score: 1

      The downsides of DRM have been discussed a lot already, but I'll briefly go over the side effects: companies get more economic control as a side effect to DRM systems (region coding), companies get to dictate which devices and from which companies you get to play their content on, allowing them to dictate additional restrictions other than purely anti-piracy ones, and companies regard the loss to the public domain as an unimportant side effect at best and probably simply a benefit.

    13. Re:There's nobody stoping... by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      " Yup. Amazing, corporations want to keep you from copying the stuff they sell and giving it away to all your friends. Go figure.
      "

      But they do it at the cost of your freedom. They could keep us from copying their stuff by making it explode upon purchase, to, but at what point do you say its ust not worth it?

      disclaimer: I did read your second paragraph, and I agree with you fully. I'm just replying because I know you're not the only one that feels that way

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    14. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No, I want to talk about the RIAA and MPAA. Specifically the MPAA.

      I saw an ad for a DVD that said "Own [some movie] today on DVD". It did not say, "License [some movie]".

      Therefore, they are selling me a copy of that movie. By the doctrine of First Sale, it is mine to do with as I wish, including cracking the CSS or region coding, folding, spindling, or mutilating, reselling to someone else.

      The only thing that I may not do is reproduce it for other people, since I don't hold the copyright.

      --
      Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
    15. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By the doctrine of First Sale, it is mine to do with as I wish

      Apparently you are posting under the doctrine of First Idiot.

    16. Re:There's nobody stoping... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, it refers to your trusting the system, because you MUST trust it. It has nothing to do with how you feel about it. Here's an analogy: I give you my car keys. You drive away in my car. You are a trusted person. Are you a trusted person because I gave you my car keys? Not in this terminology. In this terminology, you are a trusted person because you HAVE my car keys, and I have no choice but to trust that you'll bring them back. Basically, trusted systems are bad. If you have zero trusted systems, you have zero points of failure, and 100% security.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    17. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Keeper · · Score: 1

      Ok, so if you don't trust the system, don't use it. Nothing is forcing you to make all of the content YOU create DRM enabled.

      Your analogy doesn't make any sense to me. In order to HAVE the car keys, they must be given to you first. If you must be trusted in order to be given the car keys, then having the car keys implies that you are trusted.

      If you have zero trusted systems, you have zero points of failure, and 100% security.

      So you've got zero systems setup at home then? :p There is no such thing as a completely trusted system, no such thing as zero points of failure, and no such thing as 100% security.

    18. Re:There's nobody stoping... by SiliconEntity · · Score: 1

      The fact is DRM takes away the PEOPLES' rights to choose who to trust.

      Wrong, DRM gives everyone the power to choose who to trust. That's why you hate it - because you don't want the content companies to have the power to choose whether or not to trust you!

      But the shoe fits both feet. You also gain the power to choose who to trust. For example, you could join a P2P network and choose whether to let people in with clients that are going to cheat, send bogus data and flood the net. It's your decision.

      And even when someone else is choosing whether to trust you or not, you can always refuse to play the game. They won't trust you, they won't give you whatever privileges or juicy data they were handing out, but it's a mutual decision.

    19. Re:There's nobody stoping... by IchBinEinPenguin · · Score: 1

      No, corporations want to control what you do with the works they sell you, something copyright nor first sale doctrine does not give them the right to do.

      No, corporations don't want to sell you anything, they want to license/lease/rent it to you.

      Get's around all those pesky "user rights" everyone keeps waffeling on about.......

    20. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Anthony+Stuckey · · Score: 1

      You weren't paying a lot of attention on January 24-25, 2003, were you?

    21. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Cyno · · Score: 1

      Nope, what happened then?

    22. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Trepalium · · Score: 1
      Think more about the document control mechanisms... Those same mechanisms that would validate the document would also make documents unusable outside the business. It would mean that industrial espionage becomes more difficult, but it also means that whistle blowers who see a wrong in the company they work for cannot provide proof. It means the nasty forms of harassment could be time locked, so the victim can be harmed, but the harasser has no proof against him or her. It means a level of secrecy that would be almost impossible to break if the company wished it.

      I mean, there's lots of potential for it to be used for good, but there'll be an even greater temptation to use it for poor or questionable causes.

      --
      I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.
    23. Re:There's nobody stoping... by Trepalium · · Score: 1

      Hmm... Strictly speaking, a trusted system is one that is able to break the security controls. The locks on your car door would be a trusted system, to use an analogy. If the locks fail, the security of the doors is broken. In this context, trusted computers aren't ones that you have warm and fuzzy feelings about, but rather ones that are allowed to (or capable of) bypassing security controls.

      --
      I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.
    24. Re:There's nobody stoping... by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1

      The locks aren't able to break the security controls; they are the security controls.

      Your analogy is a bad one, because it implies to the layman that trusted computers are keeping your computer secure, when they are just as likely to be serving a task totally unrelated to security, and only incidentially (sp?) providing a wide open front door to your network.

      This mis-interpretation is one that Microsoft and friends appear to be encouraging, and it would be better to spell out the difference for the layman in your examples, as most of the posters (and moderators) on slashdot clearly do not "get it".

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  3. DRM is not automatically bad! by Thinkit3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One good example is the google puzzle contest I'm sure many tried. You downloaded the .pdf before, and got a password when the time started. While nobody should go to jail for cracking the password, it was an example of a good (not evil) use of DRM.

    --
    -Libertarian secular transhumanist
  4. a Good Thing by trans_err · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Rather this alternative to Palladium does or doesn't work at the fact that OTHER companies are looking into creating this kind of system makes the future of Palladium-esque systems look a lot better. Competition is a Good Thing and handing the reigns to microsoft with out look bad is a bad thing, microsoft or not a company should not have that much power. If this market becomes more diversified we will see better products, rather from microsoft or not, and people will start listening to the peanut gallery ranting for a better system.

    1. Re:a Good Thing by Knife_Edge · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "microsoft or not a company should not have that much power"

      Microsoft does have the power to do whatever they want with their operating system. Yet, for some reason that does not matter to me. I am not forced to use it, see? As long as there are some alternatives (and there are right now if you are willing to learn), I will be fine. More people need to be made aware of the alternatives, is all.

      And to everyone who says, but what if Microsoft and some media companies get together to make some kind of system that ensures that content distributed in this system could only be used in extravagantly restrictive ways?

      Well, darn, I guess I will not buy that content. I suppose I will just continue consuming media in all the other ways it is available to me that are easier and cheaper.

      Some guy asked a better 'what if' recently in another discussion on Palladium. What if systems using this technology are required to access the Internet?

      Oh, Microsoft controls the Internet now?

      This is just another silly copy protection scheme, nothing more. As are any alternative silly copy protection schemes. Take the tinfoil hats off, folks.

    2. Re:a Good Thing by IO+ERROR · · Score: 1
      Some guy asked a better 'what if' recently in another discussion on Palladium. What if systems using this technology are required to access the Internet?

      I can't really see that happening anytime soon. The Internet was designed to be open, for anyone to be able to connect to it. Palladium and the Internet Protocol are quite incompatible, in purpose if not in technology, and any attempt to graft one onto the other is going to be messy at best.

      Besides, with so many Unix/Apache servers out there, many being run by people who would never allow MS Palladium near their computers, it would take an act of God (or Congress) to get them to install it.

      --
      How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    3. Re:a Good Thing by trans_err · · Score: 1
      I think you took my point a tad bit far. I commented on the usefulness of competition in this market, as undeniably if there were none microsoft would gain a very powerful position in shaping a lot of future technologies.

      We see the same thing emerging in the browser war (it'll never be dead, and thats a Good Thing). With the growth of the KHTML engine and Mozilla (specifically Firebird, which Im using to type this post), IE is beginning to show its age and the market is really beginning to listen to the calls for what needs to be changed.

      Some guy asked a better 'what if' recently in another discussion on Palladium. What if systems using this technology are required to access the Internet?

      Oh, Microsoft controls the Internet now?

      No, but the market leader can push a market, just as IE's near to unilateral popularity has contributed the horrid compatability problems which face so many pages...

      /me fastens tinfoil hat firmly on head

    4. Re:a Good Thing by cyt0plas · · Score: 1

      I used to believe the same thing, however, over time I have realized that this approach _doesn't work_. People (as a whole) are DUMB! And while _I_ won't buy highly restrictive content, others _will_. The reality is that I don't make a very big difference. This normally wouldn't bother me except some of the content that comes out, I want. By having less restrictive, better implemented alternatives, at lease _I_ have a better chance of having some more freedoms with the content I would _like_ to see.

      --
      Contact Me (got tired of viruses emailing me).
    5. Re:a Good Thing by wcdw · · Score: 1

      You make good points, right up to the point where our brain-dead legislature *requires* the use of proprietary M$ protocols. (This has already been discussed on /.; I'm just too lazy to chase the link.)

      Think it can't happen? Two years ago, I would have sworn that it would never be legal for the government to spy on you without so much as a court order, nor that private organizations (e.g. the RIAA) would have the legal right to DDoS my machines - even if that means that I pay more for the bandwidth they use. Is it such a stretch to envision M$ getting a foothold in with some DMV, USPS, passport office, FMHA, etc., and slowly tightening the screws to include other agencies?

      Some people may think that the story about the state legislature that proposed changing the value if Pi to 3.0 'to make the math easier' is anecdotal. Sadly, it is not (but again, I'm too lazy to chase the link for you ;).

      --
      If you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up space!
    6. Re:a Good Thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Microsoft does have the power to do whatever they want with their operating system. Yet, for some reason that does not matter to me. I am not forced to use it, see?

      So I agree with this up to a point. Microsoft does have the right to do what they want with their code and I'm not forced as in forced-at-gunpoint to use it. However there is the problem that many of the games I want to play or programs I want to use don't work on any other operating system or come out after years of delay. And with games at least there aren't really open source alternatives. So while MS does have the right to do what they want with their products I ~do~ care what choices they make becasue those choices affect me. Because of this I do what little I can do to sway those decisions in a direction I like and encourage others to do the same.

    7. Re:a Good Thing by Clovert+Agent · · Score: 1
      Some guy asked a better 'what if' recently in another discussion on Palladium. What if systems using this technology are required to access the Internet? Oh, Microsoft controls the Internet now?
      No, but what if your ISP required a Palladium-signed ID to sign on? Or your company VPN required a Palladium key to permit remote access? Never mind the prospect of requiring Pd elements to view online content, which to most users is "the Internet".

      The danger is not in the tool, it's in the deployment. Lock-in is most effective and most powerful when it is enacted through partnerships, and that is exactly Microsoft's strength.

      Don't make the mistake of underestimating the risk just because the potential threat has yet to manifest.

    8. Re:a Good Thing by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Some guy asked a better 'what if' recently in another discussion on Palladium. What if systems using this technology are required to access the Internet?

      Did you even read the PDF? That is exactly what they describe. They want to replace IP (internet protocol) with IPsec (secure).

      This is just another silly copy protection scheme, nothing more.

      It's a huge issue because it isn't just about music sales and movie sales. Everything on computers and on the internet is subject to "copy protection".

      Did you consider that E-mail is subject to copy protection? Microsoft has stated that they plan to encrypt E-mail. Did you consider that the text, images, and HTML on ordinary websites are subject to copy protection? There are already people trying to use Javascript to encrypt websites.

      Consider that well over 90% of PC's are running Microsoft OS, and that many webservers are running Microsoft OS. It becomes quite possible that you will be cut off from most of the world if you don't use these DRM systems.

      What happens when people start sending you an E-mail and you can't read it without DRM OS? What happens when you surf the web and sites start turning up entirely encrypted?

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    9. Re:a Good Thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      but what if Microsoft and some media companies get together to make some kind of system that ensures that content distributed in this system could only be used in extravagantly restrictive ways?

      What happens is, anyone who doesn't switch to the restrictive platform becomes a second-class citizen.

      Microsoft does have the power to do whatever they want with their operating system. Yet, for some reason that does not matter to me. I am not forced to use it, see?

      Microsoft has a government-granted monopoly (copyright) on their operating system. DRM is counter to the goals of copyright. The government should stop promoting Microsoft's behavior. Congress should stop granting copyrights for DRM'd content.

  5. Too bad... by PS-SCUD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One is proposed by some folks in Stanford, the other is proposed by Microsoft and Intel.

    Guess which one is going to matter?

    --


    "Much work is lost, for the lack of a little more." -Edward H. Harriman
    1. Re:Too bad... by 56ker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not usually a case of which one matters (which is subjective) but the case of which one is most popular. As with Windows - if something becomes popular it can have a runaway success.... people trust computers too much at the moment anyway - most don't understand gigo and assume that information on a computer is infallible. :/

    2. Re:Too bad... by Knife_Edge · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "One is proposed by some folks in Stanford, the other is proposed by Microsoft and Intel.

      Guess which one is going to matter?"

      Neither.

    3. Re:Too bad... by El · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, that's why we're all running Microsoft Bob instead of the X Window System -- 'cause a big bad corporation can set a standard, while a Univerity can't?

      --

      "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

    4. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, real insightful - except that most of us are in fact running MS-Windows. Nice way to sidetrack that fact though, by mentioning MS-Bob...

      If this was usenet, I'd be checking your headers, where it would most likely say "X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106"

    5. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where do you think Microsoft and Intel get their employees from? :)

      Besides which, both companies pay good money to read the journals and attend the conferences where these ideas are presented. All it takes is a couple of open-minded developers or project managers to provide fertile ground.

    6. Re:Too bad... by axxackall · · Score: 1

      Last time I've checked boys after Stanford were hired by Microsoft and Intel. Conclusion? They propose alternatives only for being noticed and hired.

      --

      Less is more !
    7. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd check your market share statistics again.

    8. Re:Too bad... by kscguru · · Score: 1

      And a very popular hire out of Stanford is Google. Conclusion?

      --

      A witty [sig] proves nothing. --Voltaire

    9. Re:Too bad... by axxackall · · Score: 1
      And a very popular hire out of Stanford is Google. Conclusion?

      Let me try: they know how to use Google. No?

      --

      Less is more !
  6. Re:what ever was beautiful, it is 404 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    parent author here.sorry about that. here.

  7. Vulgar Slang by jabbadabbadoo · · Score: 3, Interesting
    palÂlaÂdiÂum2 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-ld-m)

    1) A safeguard, especially one viewed as a guarantee of the integrity of social institutions: the Bill of Rights, palladium of American civil liberties.

    2) A sacred object that was believed to have the power to preserve a city or state possessing it.

    I believe that city is called Microsoft.
    "Bill of Rights"... whaaaahahaha.
    ---
    At any rate, I have only one more word to say about Palladium. You can read all about that word here

    1. Re:Vulgar Slang by legojenn · · Score: 1
      A sacred object that was believed to have the power to preserve a city or state possessing it.

      Wow, when they renamed the Palladium in Ottawa to the Corel Centre, I never realised how much of a change it really was. I don't feel safe any more

      --
      I make a reasonable middle-class wage by going to work and not spamming blogs with scams.
  8. Faking out Palladium? by Asprin · · Score: 4, Interesting


    Moreso, would it be possible to fake out Palladium-dependent software by running it in an emulator that simulates the undelying Palladium subsystem?

    What does a program REALLY KNOW about where it lives?

    Wow, This is JUST like "The Matrix".

    --
    "Lawyers are for sucks."
    - Doug McKenzie
    1. Re:Faking out Palladium? by interiot · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A program doesn't necessarily know where it lives, but it is possible to tell if it's talking to a black box that's been signed by Intel's private key, which is probably good enough.

    2. Re:Faking out Palladium? by toasted_calamari · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ah yes, it probably would be possible, but then, you would be "circumventing a security device" and would surly get sued under the DMCA.

      That said, palladium will probably be cracked/reverse engineered withing months or weeks of its release. at which point, microsoft will blow a head gasket and demand the immediate execution of whoever is responsible.

      We need to fight this technology. I know it will be possible to turn it off at first, but this will surely cease to be possible. what palladium and other DRM technologies do is restrict the ability to freely use your own property.

      Imagine owning a grill that only allowed you to grill meat produced by Boars Head. Now imagine that it is also possible to insert a small piece of paper in a slit near the handle that just happened to turn off this restriction. now, imagine that doing this, or telling others that it can be done is a crime. This is what the DMCA and DRM technologies do.

      If people do not object to these technologies, they will surely be implemented, this implementation would be absolutly devistating to the free/open source community and must be stopped.

    3. Re:Faking out Palladium? by qbwiz · · Score: 1

      Is it? Can't you just replace the key it checks the package against with your public key, and sign your new package with your private key?

      --
      Ewige Blumenkraft.
    4. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 0, Redundant

      A program doesn't necessarily know where it lives, but it is possible to tell if it's talking to a black box that's been signed by Intel's private key

      Not if you emulate the black box, signature and all.

      It's one thing to sign something, another to have a local device that can sign with a hidden key that can't be extracted. You need the latter - an unemulatable-because-you-can't-see-its-guts box - to be robust against spoofing the software via an emulation platform.

      The main way to detect emulation is response time checking. But that won't work to detect if YOU'RE running on an emulation platform, because the emulation platform can also spoof your idea of time.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    5. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you really think that the researchers at Microsoft haven't thought about this?

    6. Re:Faking out Palladium? by asdfghjklqwertyuiop · · Score: 1

      It would be possible, but the virtual machine would have to have the keys to decrypt the programs or data that are "secured". In the usual implementation of paladium, those keys are embedded in hardware that won't reveal them easily.

      I highly doubt you'll ever see microsoft putting keys to do that in software like a virtual machine, since that would negate the whole point of palladium.

    7. Re:Faking out Palladium? by offpath3 · · Score: 1
      those keys are embedded in hardware that won't reveal them easily.

      As soon as they're putting the keys in a chrysalis box, I'll let you know. But until then, it doesn't really matter how hard it is, so long as one single person can crack it. Really, I can't say I've read too much about how it works, but likely it'll have MS/Intel's _public_ key stored so that it can check the certificates of code that you try to run to make sure that it's trusted.

    8. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about the 13 year old kid who solved the Y2K bug*

      You woudl have thought the researchers at Microsoft coudl have done that instead, if they were so thoughtful***

    9. Re:Faking out Palladium? by asdfghjklqwertyuiop · · Score: 2, Informative

      it doesn't really matter how hard it is, so long as one single person can crack it.

      Every palladium-disabled machine out there will have a different key. Getting the key out of one won't help you get the key out of another.

      Really, I can't say I've read too much about how it works, but likely it'll have MS/Intel's _public_ key stored so that it can check the certificates of code that you try to run to make sure that it's trusted.

      Yeah, they will have those public keys in there, but every machine will also have a private key of its own embedded in hardware. That's how palladium aims to prevent you from copying your data from one computer to another. The "protected" data will be encrypted based on a key that is unique to you, making the encrypted data useless to anyone else.

    10. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Yossarian45793 · · Score: 1


      This is definately possible. A company like VMWare could implement a psuedo-driver that appeared to the operating system to be real Palladium hardware. Of course this driver wouldn't have access to the keys inside your real Palladium hardware, but it could generate its own keys. Other machines on the internet would never be able to tell the difference.

      The only way to plug this hole is to have a "master key" embedded in all Palladium chips which nobody but Microsoft knows. Microsoft has specifically said that it won't include a master key in the system because such a key would inevitably get discovered or leaked.

    11. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      A company like VMWare could implement a psuedo-driver that appeared to the operating system to be real Palladium hardware. Of course this driver wouldn't have access to the keys inside your real Palladium hardware, but it could generate its own keys. Other machines on the internet would never be able to tell the difference.

      Not quite. The real Palladium hardware has a certificate issued by the manufacturer (whose certificate is issued by MS, etc.), which other machines can verify.

    12. Re:Faking out Palladium? by offpath3 · · Score: 1

      Ahh. Thanks for the clarification. Now I get it. =)

    13. Re:Faking out Palladium? by roystgnr · · Score: 1

      If the program just testing "is this signature authentic?" then you could swap keys and fool it. If the program needs to decrypt part of itself before it can run, and that part of itself has already been encrypted with the Palladium public key, then you'll need to crack the hardware to get the correct private key before it will run; swapping keys won't work.

    14. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Yossarian45793 · · Score: 1


      But such a certificate would be useless unless the Palladium hardware also had the corresponding private key stored internally, so that it could prove that it was the owner of the certificate. If that is the case, then hackers can extract the private key from the chip using traditional smartcard hacking techniques.

    15. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Asprin · · Score: 1


      This is kinda where PKI shows signs of breaking.

      Maybe someone will write a virus that has as its payload a small distributed network app that hijacks CPU cycles on every PC with Palladium enabled to brute force the BIOS's private key. (You know, because every PC will need to have a copy of the central public key so it can verify signed code.)

      Would that actually work? I mean, a **single** point of failure - what would they do - revoke and reissue the core keypair? Is my PC not gonna work if it isn't on the net because it has to have a way of checking for the revocation certificate? Anyone else thought about stuff like this? I gotta admit, I'm new to PKI and cryptography, and thinking about it kinda hurts sometimes. (It actually reminds me of when I took Quantum Mechanics the first time as an undergrad - you just kinda have to stare at it long enough that you get used to it and the pain goes away.) And this is starting to freak me out a little, so I'm going to bed now. Bye.

      Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

      --
      "Lawyers are for sucks."
      - Doug McKenzie
    16. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Fesh · · Score: 1

      Ow. I don't like the implications of that one bit. Is that seriously how Palladium is supposed to work? Wouldn't Visual Studio .NET/Palladium have to have the private key to encrypt the critical portion of programs? I guess that answers how one would digitally sign a binary, but...

      --
      --Fesh
      Kill -9 'em all, let root@localhost sort 'em out.
    17. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      IIRC, all the computers on earth couldn't brute-force a large RSA key in our lifetime.

    18. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Alsee · · Score: 1

      This is definately possible... Other machines on the internet would never be able to tell the difference.

      Nope. Here's how it works:
      All RSA keys come in pairs, a public key and a private key. If information is signed by a private key it can be verified as authentic using the public key.

      There is a central Certificate Authority (CA). They have a key pair. Everyone knows the CA public key. This is the "root of trust". The system is based on everyone trusting the CA.

      The CA contracts with a small number of manufacturers that they trust. Each manufacturer has a key pair. The CA knows the public key of each trusted manufacturer.

      Each chip receives or creates a key pair. The manufacture signs the chip's public key with their private key. The chip stores this signature. This proves the manufacturer trusts that key.

      You buy a computer with one of these chips. It is mostly useless (untrusted) until you log on to the internet and connect to the CA to create a "trusted identity". Your chip sends its public key plus the manufacturer's signature to prove it is a real chip. If the CA recognizes the manufacturer's signature then it signs your chips public key with their private key. This signature is stored. This proves the CA trusts your chip.

      When you connect to someone on the internet you show your public key plus the CA signature. Now they trust your chip. They can now send you an encrypted message that can only be decypted by your chip.

      There are several ways to "break" the system, but they aren't as simple as you suggested. (1) You can use special lab equipment to dig the private key out of your chip. (2) Get a manufacturer to sign a bogus key. (3) Somehow aquire a trusted manufacturer's private key and sign bogus keys yourself. (4) Get the CA to sign a bogus key. (5) Somehow aquire the CA's private key and sign bogus keys yourself.

      Any manufacture can obviously cheat through (3). The CA itself can obviously cheat through (5). A court can order (2) or (4), so any law enforcement agency can cheat easily.

      If someone manages (5) stealing the CA private key the system is destroyed completely. If someone manages (3) stealing a manufacture key they can "save" the system by revoking that manufacturer's key. Every computer with a chip signed by that key would be hosed, millions of people would be screwed.

      The main route is (1) reading a chip. And agency of any government can do so at will. Any corporation can afford to do so a will. Any indiviual with access to suitable can do so with effort. The limit here is that you have to crack each chip one at a time. If you try to use one key for many people they will spot it and revoke that key.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    19. Re:Faking out Palladium? by qbwiz · · Score: 1

      How does it find out what the key is in the first place? Does it come preinstalled on the computer (I haven't checked out exactly how it works)? If not, it's going to be installed somewhere, and you can intercept it there. Even if it is preinstalled in a "black box" on the motherboard, unless it's extremely tightly integrated with the CPU then the instructions must be decrypted into RAM at some point.
      If you bypass the operating system, you can bypass any level above the operating system.

      --
      Ewige Blumenkraft.
    20. Re:Faking out Palladium? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      Moreso, would it be possible to fake out Palladium-dependent software by running it in an emulator that simulates the undelying Palladium subsystem?

      Yes. Unfortunately, you won't be able to make such a simulator. The simulator requires a private key which is embedded in the hardware. This is where TCPA comes in*.

      Palladium is encrypted using a public key. To decrypt it, you need the private key. The private key is embedded in a tamper-resistant chip (called the trusted platform module. If you try to inspect the chip, it effectively self-destructs). When the machine powers up, it authenticates the BIOS. The BIOS authenticates the boot loader and the kernel. If any of these fail to authenticate, TCPA will refuse to authenticate anything else. Finally, TCPA decrypts the kernel and starts it up.

      The kernel authenticates the drivers it uses, and the software it starts up. Not everything has to be authenticated, just stuff that DRM'd software depends on. When you open a DRM'd program, either Palladium decrypts it with a private key, or Palladium sends it to the trusted platform module to decrypt.

      As long as Palladium doesn't have any security holes, you will have two options to compromise it. You could somehow acquire the private keys, or you could somehow compromise the hardware (processor, memory, video card, etc).

      --------

      *Kuro5hin has a good technical analysis of TCPA.

  9. Trusted Computing good, DRM bad. by autopr0n · · Score: 2

    I'd be happy with Trusted computing as long as I got to be the one who did the trusting, not some outside entity.

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:Trusted Computing good, DRM bad. by LuckyStarr · · Score: 1

      i think that even if you have "trusted"-computing, this will not help. a "untrustworth" entity could fake the "trust" and steal your input. i don't know if this is bad, but it is possible. :)

      --
      Meme of the day: I browse "Disable Sigs: Checked". So should you.
    2. Re:Trusted Computing good, DRM bad. by EverDense · · Score: 1

      No, what you want is to be the "Trusted" not the "Trusting".

      Imagine this scenario as an obtuse analogy...

      You're driving home late one night in the middle of nowhere when your car breaks down. You walk
      to the nearest farm. The farmer is friendly and offers to put you up for the night.
      Down the hall from where you are staying is the farmer's "Horny-Young-Minx-of-a-Daughter[tm]".
      You could easily wait for the farmer to fall asleep, and sneak into his daughter's bedroom.

      You are the "Trusted", the farmer is the "Trusting".
      He is "Trusting" you not to screw his daughter.

      Happens to me ALL the time.

      Trust me.

      --
      http://jesus.everdense.com/
    3. Re:Trusted Computing good, DRM bad. by gilleyj · · Score: 1

      According to some, you cannot be trusted to trust.

      --
      feh
    4. Re:Trusted Computing good, DRM bad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can you tell me where you drive when your car breaks down, so that I too may partake of the "Horny-Young-Minx-of-a-Daughter[tm]"?

  10. Virtual Machines? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

    Some folks at Stanford have been looking at an alternative architecture for doing trusted computing (ala Palladium) based on using Virtual Machines.

    We have that today. It's called JAVA. (Trolls, take a hike. Even Kreskin doesn't know when Java's dying.)

    1. Re:Virtual Machines? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 0, Troll

      > Fact: Java is dying

      I suppose you think you're funny?

    2. Re:Virtual Machines? by CausticWindow · · Score: 1

      As far as I know, Java haven't got any DRM capabilities.

      As for the security of Java, I've singlehandedly hacked the VM to be able to get at private functions and variables of other peoples classes. If I can do that, then who knows what evil hackers might do?

      Think about it.. what if the only security your bank is utilizing is that your PIN is a private class variable?

      --
      How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
    3. Re:Virtual Machines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to break it to you, but Java wasn't the first virtual machine and it won't be the last.

    4. Re:Virtual Machines? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      You can access private methods and such via reflection as long as there is no security manager preventing you. Add a security manager and *BAM* ultra-secure system. As for hacking the VM binaries, that's a problem in any solution. The point is that code inside the VM is secure.

    5. Re:Virtual Machines? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1

      > I hate to break it to you, but Java wasn't the
      > first virtual machine and it won't be the last.

      No, the first one I believe was for Pascal. However, Java is the *most popular* VM as well as one of the most secure consumer VMs ever developed.

    6. Re:Virtual Machines? by BananaSlug · · Score: 0

      Didn't Microsoft buy VMware? I seem to recall a nice glossy color articlein the only extract of an issue of NSAs Tech Trend Notes found on the web, where the NSA had been using VMware to do some trusted computing on top of Linux.

      Maybe MS bought VMware to slow down competition in Trusted Computing? Then again the NSA paper shows VMware running on top of Linux as a way to secure Windows...

      www.itworld.com/AppDev/1310/ITW0202nsa/
      http:// www.vmware.com/pdf/TechTrendNotes.pdf

    7. Re:Virtual Machines? by BananaSlug · · Score: 0

      Oh, well, so it was Connectix, they bought.
      The competition can live on.

  11. Other uses.. by Ancil · · Score: 2, Interesting
    In their paper they also discuss a bunch of non-DRM applications of Trusted Computing
    I can think of one off the top of my head: Trusted clients for multiplayer games.
    1. Re:Other uses.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shouldn't that use application specific protection? Why do you need an entire "platform" to do that?

      Trusted computing is a (buzzword compliant) hammer looking for a nail.

  12. Viva la Alternatives by curtlewis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With all the security patches MS has each week, I must admit I found it rather amusing that they were propsing a secure computing standard with Paladium.

    Personally, I don't think they can pull it off. But with Stanford looking into an alternative now, this means we'll at least have choices down the line. And I'm sure that both sides will look at what each other does and rip off the good ideas.

    Security is important and a verifiable identity is as well. Not just for e-commerce applications, either. Even such simple issues as banning some nimrod that wants to post stupidity on your board can be solved by a solid identity model.

    Hopefully, one of em will pull it off.

  13. Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What misleading terms they are. How can Palladium have anything to do with "trust" when they violate trust and anything else by intruding into my computer and controlling my content?

    How can DRM "protect rights" when it denies basic rights of fair use?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "There's some food in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for." - Sam Gamgee

      Samwise was a hungry hobbit indeed.

    2. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

      "Samwise was a hungry hobbit indeed

      Yes. The only reason he followed Frodo to Mordor at all is because Gandalf whispered in his ear that Mordor had a pretty good all-you-can eat buffet.

      --
      Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    3. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DRM does protect fair use - it allows copyright holders to mark their content so it can be copied for personal use (between different devices for example) without having to allow it to be distributed illegally.

      It's striking that when legal sanctions were first used against internet copyright violations there were a great many postings on slashdot complaining that the law shouldn't be involved and a technological solution should be used instead - now a workable technological solution is available which protects copyright (and hence the continued production of music, books, software, etc) and the rights of the consumer, and doesn't intrude if you don't choose to purchase protected content - suddenly that's wrong too.

    4. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by .com+b4+.storm · · Score: 4, Informative

      How can DRM "protect rights" when it denies basic rights of fair use?

      Ah, but there's the rub. It's not about protecting YOUR rights, it's about protecting the rights of the big corporations. Well not so much their rights as the "rights" they want - i.e. control over your computer and everything you use it for.

      --
      "Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
      -- Ryan Stiles
    5. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by Planesdragon · · Score: 1



      Your... content... ?

      The P2P public had the trust of the creative industries--and then Napster came along, and they/we stomped all over that trust. Palladium is trust as in "you can now trust us not to break the law."

      Palladium, as I understand it, makes circumventing the system more trouble than its worth. Which, theoretically, would let us get back to our familiar balance of copyright and individual use.

      How can DRM "protect rights" when it denies basic rights of fair use?

      Fair use is not now and never has been a "basic right." It's an exception to a government-granted monopoly intended to ensure the profitability of creative works.

      DRM doesn't manage your "bill of rights" rights--it manages what rights you are granted by an IP holder to copy their IP.

      Oh, and you still have as much fair use as anyone did before the digital boom. A slightly degraded automated copies, or tediously sampled manual copies, are still going to work.

    6. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1

      It's trusted computing because you're trusting it. It can fuck you, and you're trusting that it won't.

      If it didn't have the capacity to screw you over, you wouldn't be trusting it with anything, now would you?

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    7. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Oh, and you still have as much fair use as anyone did before the digital boom. A slightly degraded automated copies, or tediously sampled manual copies, are still going to work.

      In 1557, after a 120 year struggle to control the printing press, the British Monarchy created copyright as a means to control speech. They granted a monopoly to the Stationers' Company. It was illegal for anyone outside the company to produce books.

      In 1710, the Statute of Anne was born. It granted authors a 14 year monopoly on their works with the option to renew for a second 14 year term. In 1791, the United States created its first copyright law based on the Statue of Anne. The constitution carefully differentiates between inventions and writings. They did not want a situation where authors could control printing presses (or the latest publishing technology). To do so would be like telling everyone else hire to a monastic scribe to publish their books.

      Today, the DMCA gives authors veto power over publishing technology. Authors have the power to decide who can or cannot circumvent their technological protections; and who can distribute the tools to do so. This is nothing short of a patent with no limit and without meeting the requirements for patentability (however low the requirements may be).

    8. Re:Palladium,DRM = no trust or rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      How can DRM "protect rights" when it denies basic rights of fair use?

      At the end of the article, there was a one paragraph statement hailing the civil rights benefits of trusted computing. It considered the case of law enforcement. The police can get a warrant to monitor your internet activity. Presumably they limit their monitoring to those activities permitted by the warrant. But we have no way of knowing if the police are actually conducting a more invasive search. With trusted computing, the police would not be able to tamper with the system. The system would log and sign everything the police do. Another benefit is that the police could not tamper with the evidence after the fact (although they could certainly monitor a staged communication).

      One unanswered question is who controls the key? It's likely that the government could exercise some power over whatever organization controls the key. So the system isn't quite as foolproof as the researchers would have you believe.

      The idea here is that the government can't always be trusted, so we should require that they use a machine that we can trust. It's the same as DRM, except applied in an ethical manner.

  14. Which would you choose. by xA40D · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So from MS we get Trusted Computing where "trusted" means trusted by big corporations who want to sell you stuff without any chance of copying.

    From these guys we get Trusted Computing where trusted means trusted by the guys building the network.

    So, which would you choose?

    --
    Do you mind, your karma has just run over my dogma.
    1. Re:Which would you choose. by ceejayoz · · Score: 1

      So, which would you choose?

      People will choose the one there's content for, which will be the one trusted by the corporations putting out said content.

      The inclination for the average Joe User to become a technological revolutionary sticking it to The Man seems to be overestimated quite frequently here on Slashdot...

  15. Real meaning of trusted computing! by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it called "trusted computing" after all, when it violates trust?

    The problem is we are looking at the wrong definition of trust. Most of us have in mind the primary definition: "Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing" or "Custody; care"

    You have to look down the list to find the definition of "trust" that fits perfectly with Microsoft, RIAA/MPAA and the Palladium idea:

    "A combination of firms or corporations for the purpose of reducing competition and controlling prices throughout a business or an industry."

    Might as well called it "monopolized computing". Means the same thing.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Real meaning of trusted computing! by Daniel_Staal · · Score: 1
      The problem is we are looking at the wrong definition of trust. Most of us have in mind the primary definition: "Firm reliance on the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing" or "Custody; care"

      But that is the definition they are using. Microsoft feels they can rely on the integrity of a Pallidum-equipped computer system.

      Note that this says nothing about the user of the computer. (Unless you consider MS a user...)

      --
      'Sensible' is a curse word.
    2. Re:Real meaning of trusted computing! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 1

      Someone mod this guy down? It's not called Trustworthy Computing, it's called Trusted Computing. The definition does not say "Firm reliability", it says "Firm reliance" Do you trust them? Because if you buy one of their machines, you already did. Get it? If you give me your house keys, then find out I'm a thief, until you change your locks, I'm still trusted, even though you know I'm a thief. THAT is what Trusted Computing is all about.

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
  16. Re:ala by gonzo_bozo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ã la

  17. There is no theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    "DRM prevents you dirty hippies from stealing copyrighted material"

    Knock off the word abuse. There is no theft involved in duplication.

    "Some of us have to make a living, you know"

  18. Kinda like the Matrix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Computers started out simplistic, under the user's complete control...

    they got more advanced, users still had full control...

    Trusted computing came along, users lost a lot of control...

    add in some technological and AI improvements...

    ???...

    MATRIX! :)

  19. The problem with Chemistry.... by purduephotog · · Score: 1

    ..... is when I see "Researches looking for alternatives to Palladium" I think - well, there's platinum, copper on platinum (mosanto does that), a couple of nickel catalysts.... oh, this is that DRM thingy
    Such is life... technology is conspiring to take away my rights to protect me from myself.

  20. Re:ala by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    merci.

  21. You forgot a BIG part of computer history by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Computers started out simplistic, under the user's complete control..."

    No, they started out controlled by men in white coats in clean rooms.

    The microcomputer and PC revolution changed all this.

    The regressive trend back to "Master Control" started with Scott McNelly of Sun Microsystems. I remember when he first laid out his grand vision of returning everything to central control via the Internet. Java was part of this. Microsoft copied the rhetoric, announcing a time when your Word app and even your Word docs would all be on Microsoft's central servers.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  22. Call my a pessimist, but... by DarkVein · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I find this branch of research and publication somewhat disturbing. As legitimate, morally appealing, uses for this technology appear, the opposition should become less vehemently opposed to the technology. It's the rational reaction for rational people. If you still oppose it, you're probably irrational.

    We're capitalists, however. Civil liberties have not been terribly profitable products in the past. The old-world investors will not invest in end-point civil liberties protection technologies, and will continue to put on blinders to the true value in information networks--their end-points.

    However, perhaps one or two capitalists out there has realized that (1) networks have no inherent value or use on their own, and (2) people are terrified of being ruled by any network. There's a fucking market for civil liberty weapons: tools to defend end-points, tools to protect individual's rights to connect and communicate with any other end-points, tools to insure security and authenticity between any two or more individuals. Justin Frankel's "Waste" is a beautiful start.

    On a related, but off-topic tangent, I've got a new buzz-word: Intellectual Macro-Economics, a way to increase the value of the US dollar.

    Here's how it works, in magic-bullet glory: Article 1, Section 8, of the US Constitution provides Congress with the power to increase the artists and scientific wealth of the US, providing a mechanism for doing so (limited terms). The concept is to increase the unlimited common wealth of the US (and probably Humanity), by encouraging the creation of new works. For the last 20 years our cultural wealth has been depleted by private interests, looting the cultural commons, robbing us of the creative wealth to build with. In this, the copyright law is our asset which has been mis-managed, and stopped delivering our wealth. To increase our national cultural wealth, require the creation of new works, and consequently increase foreign confidence in the US dollar, increasing its exchange value, we must repair copyright, patent, and trademark law so that the commons will resume growing, and an immediate idea-influx (through a retro-active term truncation) would have massive midterm-longterm beneficial effects.

    Another aside. One side of the IP arguement sees the limited terms as the promotion of progress. The other side (ours, and the one that wrote the damned Constitution) sees the progress as the effect of limited terms: an increase in common intellectual wealth, with a "necessary evil" to promote the production of those works. Bleh. Communications barriers. And you thought it was so fucking obvious, didn't you?

    --

    I'm as mimsy as the next borogove but your mome raths are completely outgrabe.

    1. Re:Call my a pessimist, but... by ciderpunk · · Score: 1

      We're capitalists, however Speak for yerself.

  23. Mod Parent Up. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The moderators must be on crack.

    This is a great post because it shows that in every industry, power corrupts and we NEED checks and balances. This Palladium alternative research is GOOD for the world because we can limit a corrupt power where it is in medicine or computers.

  24. Alan Cox by Jacco+de+Leeuw · · Score: 1
    Hey, Alan Cox will be there as well! ;-)

    (What are the chances of two Alan Coxes in this field of business!? Bummer for the other Alan Cox. Probably often mistaken as Linus' lieutenant...)

    --
    -------
    Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
    1. Re:Alan Cox by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      I happened to have dinner with Alan Cox the other night and I couldn't resist asking about this; he said he only gets mistaken for the other Alan Cox about once every 6 months.

  25. Well, I laughed by RatBastard · · Score: 1

    I thought it was funny.

    --
    Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
    1. Re:Well, I laughed by purduephotog · · Score: 1

      grin I thought it was funny.... damn catalysts, why do they have to be soooo expensive.....

    2. Re:Well, I laughed by jasonditz · · Score: 1

      Palladium's actually quite a bit cheaper than it used to be. Less than $200US an ounce now compared to over $1,000 at one point.

      So why do we need to develop alternatives?

  26. One posible alternative is ... by bigjocker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... not to use any DRM at all ...

    --
    Life isn't like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
  27. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  28. DRM is like viruses: must be filtered out by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    DRM should be treated like viruses. If we could only get the DMCA out of the way (with its huge $$$ fines for listening to the song you bought on the "wrong" player), we could have Norton and McAfee come out with software that strips all incoming content of DRM just like their other products which remove viruses from incoming files.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  29. Will someone please by BigBadBri · · Score: 1
    mod this through the freaking roof.

    It's funny, insightful and informative all at once.

    --
    oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
  30. MPAA refuses my money by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "If the Riaa and Mpaa do not trust people with the media, why show it? They, in effect, release the idea to everybody when they put some show/song in mass media."

    Not only that, but the MPAA commonly encourages piracy.

    Let's say I want to see "The Two Towers". It is no longer in theatres, can't go there. It is a LONG time before they sell a DVD; so I can't pay them that way by buying a DVD. The only alternative is to obtain somehow a pirated DVD copy of "The Two Towers".

    No way should they whine about money-loss to piracy when they aren't selling it in the first place! There is a demand for their product, and in this example, they refuse to meet it in any way.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:MPAA refuses my money by murdocj · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Let's say I want to see "The Two Towers". It is no longer in theatres, can't go there. It is a LONG time before they sell a DVD; so I can't pay them that way by buying a DVD. The only alternative is to obtain somehow a pirated DVD copy of "The Two Towers".

      So if someone won't sell you something you want, it's ok to steal it? For God's sake, grow up! Learn to wait a couple of months for the dvd to come out.

    2. Re:MPAA refuses my money by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

      "So if someone won't sell you something you want, it's ok to steal it?"

      I never said anything about stealing. The only way you can seal "The Two Towers" is to break into some Time-Warner vault and swipe a copy.

      " For God's sake, grow up", to quote you.

      --
      Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    3. Re:MPAA refuses my money by murdocj · · Score: 1
      The only alternative is to obtain somehow a pirated DVD copy...
      I never said anything about stealing.

      I guess I'm just having a little trouble distinguishing between obtaining a "pirated DVD copy" and stealing. So I still think you should grow up. It's not a horrible crime against humanity that you have to wait a couple of months to get a dvd of a movie.

    4. Re:MPAA refuses my money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      So if someone won't sell you something you want, it's ok to steal it?

      You knew how everyone would respond, yet you said it anyway. You know full well that making your own copy of the Two Towers is no more stealing from AOL Time-Warner than growing your own pineapples constitutes stealing from Dole.

      To steal, is to remove tangible property from someone's possession without their permission. When someone copies the Two Towers, they do not remove the movie from AOL Time-Warner's possession. Copyrights are exactly what their name suggests, rights. They are neither tangible, nor property.

      The term you are looking for is copyright infringement. It is a form of competition. The government regulates competition as a means to inspire investment in the industry. If you're looking for another way to describe copyright infringement, just call it "capitalism".

    5. Re:MPAA refuses my money by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 1

      Okay, these other people are idiots, saying "It's not stealing!!", they're morons, okay? It is stealing. You know it, I know it, they know it.
      Now here's MY answer to your question:
      "So if someone won't sell you something you want, it's ok to steal it?"

      The answer is "yes".
      If you refuse to allow someone(as in anyone) to see it in exchange for something, you lose the right to deny someone(as in anyone) seeing it.
      Once you are willing to part with it for a price, you may deny those who wont pay that price.

      That is to say: Until they will sell us licenses un-attached to any media, we will watch whatever media without license.

      See subject. They refuse the money, so they dont get the money. I on the other hand do not refuse their movie.

      --
      -- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
  31. VMs executing signed code? by megazoid81 · · Score: 1

    How would a virtual machine based approach to Trusted Computing such as this be different from a JVM/CLR/equivalent virtual machine executing code signed only by a certain party?

    1. Re:VMs executing signed code? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A more enlightening question would be "How is a Virtual Machine designed to emulate the Java platform different from a Virtual Machine designed to emulate the x86 platform?"

      Of course, to make the analogy 100% you'd have to say the x86/win32 or x86/linux platforms...

      Just because Java doesn't run natively anywhere doesn't make it any less of a platform than x86/pick an OS.

  32. No, it does not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "DRM does protect fair use - it allows copyright holders to mark their content so it can be copied for personal use (between different devices for example)"

    No, it does not. The most common form of DRM out there right now, contained in the most recent Windows Media Player, prevents me from playing a song on my MP3 player.

    "and the rights of the consumer, and doesn't intrude if you don't choose to purchase protected content - suddenly that's wrong too."

    There would not be anything wrong with DRM if it was OK to bypass/remove it.

  33. Re:Fuck you crack smokin mods, fuck you in your as by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    What about the world's largest computer manufacturer (last time i checked) shipping BSD as the only manufacturer supported OS on their computers?

  34. Why a VM ? by makapuf · · Score: 1

    No, I haven't RFTA, but I'm wondering :

    if you need to trust the VM binary, why not trust the very programs you want to trust directly ? because you put the VM in rom ? (or something in ROM is trusting the VM ? but, there, why not verify other programs, even downloaded ?)

    Other remark, I though palladium was evil, but not TCPA ?

    1. Re:Why a VM ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Palladium and TCPA are essentially identical, at least when it comes to DRM applications. Both are basically PGP on steroids, and without that second key the media is worthless. Palladium is a superset of features, though, that includes memory curtaining, where blocks of memory are also encrypted and only available to specific programs. Without that seperation between trusted and non-trusted can't really exist anyway.

  35. Now, this is news for nerds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are some cool sounding papers!

    - TCP Offload Is a Dumb Idea Whose Time Has Come
    - Crash-Only Software
    - Using Computers to Diagnose Computer Problems :-)

  36. It's been said before... by Durin_Deathless · · Score: 1

    ...and I'll say it again: "Those who are willing to give up an essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

    --
    You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
    1. Re:It's been said before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Ahh Benjamin Franklin. Where would we be without his pro-government, anti-private-property quotes!


      All property, indeed, except the savage's temporary cabin, his bow, his matchcoat and other little Acquisitions absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the creature of public Convention. Hence, the public has the rights of regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the quantity and uses of it. All the property that is necessary to a man is his natural Right, which none may justly deprive him of, but all Property superfluous to such Purposes is the property of the Public who, by their Laws have created it and who may, by other Laws dispose of it.


      - Benjamin Franklin

    2. Re:It's been said before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it's been mis-stated many times here, and thank you for your contribution to the mangling of Franklin's words.

    3. Re:It's been said before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please give a source. I just looked at a few sites, and saw nothing of this. It is perhaps from his early days, when he thought Britain was a fine example of governing?

    4. Re:It's been said before... by The+Creator · · Score: 1

      But in the case of DRM, the one gaining safety is doing so at the expense of someone elses liberty.

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
  37. Boneh and Rosenblum by offpath3 · · Score: 1

    I've take class from both Prof. Boneh and Prof. Rosenblum (2 of the 3 names on the paper), and I can tell you that they're some of the most intelligent people I've met. I'd definitely trust anything those guys have to say.

  38. Your enemy better not be a geek! by jetmarc · · Score: 1

    > Trusted clients for multiplayer games

    Given all the effort that was put into aimbot network proxies, reverse engineering
    graphic card drivers etc, I don't think that this will hold.

    As soon as a Trusted Computer is enforced on the masses and keeps geeks from doing
    geeky things (cheat on games, watch Startrek, listen to Linkin Park, read NY Times,
    run Linux on XBOX), it will be cracked in no time.

    The past shows that secure AND cheap chips do not exist. Google for the BSkyB
    desaster in UK, if you're not convinced. Or read up this PDF to learn how hi-tech
    security smartcards and chips are dissected and cracked in a home lab:

    http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/sc99-tamper-slide s. pdf

    How much do you want to pay for a Trusted mainboard? Some extra $1 US (cheap PIC)?
    Some extra $10 US (estimated price of BSkyB smartcard)? Or do you want just the
    "Trusted" stuff to _exceed_ the price of the whole mainboard and use a physically
    tamper-hardened (yet cracked) device like IBM 4758?

    See http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/descrack/ibm4758.htm l

    As long as you're fighting against the geeks, you're on the loser side.

    Marc

  39. UNISEX Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the USENIX Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems. Looked to me like the "UNISEX Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems." And I have to point out that anything "unisex" is not a hot topic....

  40. That is not DRM, that is encryption! (nt) by Hobbex · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...

    1. Re:That is not DRM, that is encryption! (nt) by Thinkit3 · · Score: 1

      Huh? DRM is almost all about encryption anyway--except I suppose for that weird DVD that supposed to chemically fade after a few days.

      --
      -Libertarian secular transhumanist
    2. Re:That is not DRM, that is encryption! (nt) by Hobbex · · Score: 1

      DRM is not "all about encryption", it uses encryption. Confusing encryption (a good thing) with DRM (a bad thing) is very wrong, and very dangerous.

      Encryption is when data is encoded so that only people with access to the a key can decode it. DRM involves encrypting data so that your computer (or DVD player etc) can decrypt it, but only on the condition that your computeris user hostile and controls what you can do with the data.

      The crucial element in DRM is not the encryption but the making your computer act against you (which is why software DRM is so easy to crack, and special closed chips like TCPA are needed.) Google first sending the paper, and only later the key to decrypt it does not include that.

    3. Re:That is not DRM, that is encryption! (nt) by Thinkit3 · · Score: 1

      Now I'm rabidly anti-IP, but I think there are some non-evil uses for DRM, even as you define it. What about on the battlefield? I would think hardware DRM would have a big role there. Sharing music is fine, sharing battefield plans is not. I don't really see the technologies as being bad or good...mostly it's the laws that are evil.

      --
      -Libertarian secular transhumanist
  41. Drawbacks vs Benefits by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 1

    My signature reflects my feelings about Trusted Computing. Because Trusted Computing is so easily abused by content producers who want strict control over media consumption, I feel it's potential for harm outweighs most of its benefits.

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
  42. Consuming media? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "content producers who want strict control over media consumption"

    It has been a LONG time since I've eaten a CD, or burned a book in my furnace. I'm not sure the word "consumption" for media-usage fits the best!

  43. Corrections. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is what the DMCA and DRM technologies do.

    1. DMCA is a law, not a technology.

    2. Your example of meat-grilling is not really equivalent. Grilling meat is generally legal, whereas copying someone else's work without permission is generally illegal.

    But of course there is still an enormous flaw in the DMCA: sure, more than 90% of the time, when a someone wants to defeat a copy protection scheme, it is for the purpose of illegal copying. But there are times when copy protection blocks copying which would otherwise be completely legal, and quite useful.

    That is the problem with the DMCA.

    So a better analogy is:

    It's as though there were a device in your car which prevents you from trying to drive much faster than the speed limit, and which is illegal to remove.

    It's sort of understandable that some people might think this is a good idea, but on the whole it is insulting, and prevents legitimate high speed driving (e.g., driving on a private roads, manuevers to avoid a collision, etc.)

    1. Re:Corrections. by jjhlk · · Score: 1

      There are many times legally copying something is actually useful:

      My friend played a lot of Starcraft Broodwars, and he made a backup of the disc "just in case". Frankly we didn't know what could happen, and we used the CD for LAN games (Yes I know you can give it a LAN key.. though I'm not sure why they added that in). One day he tried to play Broodwars and the CD-rom made an awful noise. He opened the drive to a mess of disc fragments.

      After that who wants to play with the original discs? We back things up regularily now. (And the drive destroyed one more Broodwar disc over time).

      In retrospect I'm making a point to not much of a point, and I'm somewhat off topic. Ah well...

    2. Re:Corrections. by jjhlk · · Score: 1

      I remember what my point was. Who needs analogies when you have such a good anecdote as mine? :)

  44. My content by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    "Your... content... ?"

    My content. I paid for it. That kind of content. Consider the ad campaign for selling DVD's "Own a Movie Today!"

    "Oh, and you still have as much fair use as anyone did before the digital boom"

    Not really. The real problem is the DMCA. If the DMCA were repealed, DRM would not be a problem.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:My content by stubear · · Score: 1

      My content. I paid for it. That kind of content. Consider the ad campaign for selling DVD's "Own a Movie Today!"

      You do not own the content, you own the media it's on. You merely license the content and are granted limited rights to view it. You cannot distribute it, make derivative works, copy it for other then personal uses, or perform/display it publically.

      Not really. The real problem is the DMCA. If the DMCA were repealed, DRM would not be a problem.

      Please do explain. I'm guessing you're like every other clueless idiot on /. that simply does not understand the DMCA. You hear all the rhetoric here and assume that someone along the line read and understood its contents.

    2. Re:My content by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 1
      You do not own the content, you own the media it's on.

      You do own the content. However, copyright law puts a "lien" on the content that generally forbids you to redistribute any copies you make.

      This is similar to how you "own" your back yard, but the local government retains a lien that prevents you from building a garage within 3 feet of the lot line. You are restricted from doing certain things to your yard, but you don't say that you don't own it. Decades of IP creeping featurism have made people forget this distinction. The "P" in IP refers to ownership of the "lien", not of the content that it covers.

      You merely license the content and are granted limited rights to view it.

      When you buy a book, a CD or a movie, you do not sign a contract. Therefore, there is no license. You can do anything you want with the content you own as long as you do not violate the copyright statutes.

      (Unfortunately, the DMCA breaks this centuries-old balanced system. Publishers create extralegal "licenses" implemented with technology alone, and the DMCA gives blanket legal enforcement to any such technical "license" terms whatsoever, no matter how byzantine, restrictive, broken, or proprietary-third-party-locked-in they may be.)

    3. Re:My content by stubear · · Score: 1

      The contract is not a paper one, it's embedded into the media by placing the (c) [date] and/or further copyright notice and explanation somewhere on the packaging (usually on the back for CDs and DVDs). By purchasing the CD, book or movie you agree to abide by copyright laws because you have seen and acknowledge the rights protecting the work. Ignorance of its existence, otherwise known as ignorance of the law, is not a legit argument either. Even if the media is lacking the notice it is still protected though it is much more difficult to protect without the notice.

  45. Trust is a good thing by philipborlin · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The technologies that this paper are discussing do not take away our abilities to choose who we trust, they simply gives providers of a service a way to choose who they trust. Sure microsoft and the *aa groups are providing services and will use this technology to limit the way we use their services. But that does not take away our privledge to use other services that are less restrictive. It also allows us (the OSS community) to build tools (such as P2P sharing apps) that keep them out.

    So they build their network apps, we build our network apps. Ours are more fun and now can't be spammed, DDOSed, or any of the other nasty things they try.

    Not any scarier, just more polarized.

  46. Bob was an OS?? by freeweed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I naively thought that Microsoft's main operating system was Windows - you know, that thing that runs on 90-something percent of desktops worldwide?

    Wasn't Bob basically Clippy the first?

    --
    Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
  47. p2p by Pros_n_Cons · · Score: 1

    " improving P2P security "

    Wouldn't it be nice if there was a P2P application that had support for SSL, Proxy's and sets tunneling to prevent ISP's from blocking it?
    well thats what the link is. It is still in beta and only available for windows so lets E-mail them about porting it. Or maybe one of you sharp coders is looking for a project. I only know perl so I'm out hehe

    --

    -- "of course thats just my opinion, I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
  48. Security through overworking crackers by Olathe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I did RTFA and what this boils down to is what it says near the end: "Note that our threat model excludes compromise of the underlying tamper-resistant hardware...". Palladium has the same trouble.

    Security through obscurity-and-a-bunch-of-hard-work-to-break-it. Basically, the first time anyone skilled figures out the algorithms for the hardware, they can help someone make an emulator.

    Then, all you need is the key any "trusted" computer uses. So, you brute force crack your own computer's key by having it encrypt or sign some communique to some "trusted" server out there. Then, you intercept the communique. Since you know the algorithms, you try encrypting or signing the communique with different keys until you find a key that results in a match.

    Once you have your key and your emulator, you can look at what any program on your computer is doing, change whatever the hell you want, and cause whatever "mischief" you want. Want a DRMed MP3 unDRMed so that everyone on the Internet can have a copy ? Go right ahead. You could probably make a program to automate the process. Want to change something a "trusted" program is sending to a server ? Go right ahead.

  49. Actually, that's the evil side by poptones · · Score: 1
    If you can "ban the nimrod" you don't agree with then you have the power to censor the speech of others. People with the least popular ideas would also (then) have the least ability to make arguments to convince others why they are right. Sounds fine and dandy if it means you can put down the KKK right? So what if "everyone" believes the government on an issue? Then it's OK to "ban" anyone who might speak badly about the government? No, I don't think so.

    I don't trust MS as far as I could throw Bill gates into a strong headwind. But that doesn't stop me from using windows - I just wrap everything up in PGP and firewalls and hope for the best. And that's the bad part - "hoping for the best." We need something that assures more than a wing and a prayer but also allows for the separation of identity and trust. And while that still may sound a bit like PGP, it ain't; I can't lock away an app in PGP and run it without also making it vulnerable to attack. That means everything else is vulnerable to attack, too.

    Whenever we get stars in our eyes and dream of an "augmented future" with pocket computers that allow us to recall in an instant significant volumes of historical information, both personal and public, then we've got to realize something like Palladium has to happen first - because, I dunno about you, but I am not gonna carry around an "augmented brain" that any script kiddie with a bad attitude can even read, much less attack. In such an "augmented reality" a system attack has the possibility of being as much as physical attack as knocking someone down and stealing their wallet, or even delivering a blow to the head.

    Now, granted, there's nothing protecting me from just such an attack right now. I could take a stroll down Sunset one night and get mugged and that would be that. But the way things are we are all living in the highest crime neighborhood and we have about as much to fear from the police as we have the (ahem) "bad guys." At the very least, we are going to have to come up with a "personal armored car" before any of the really cool stuff can move forward.

    Now, I don't trust Palladium to be that armored car. But I also don't think you can get away with the anti-DRM arguments. Because, when it comes down to it, we are talking about a personal DRM system. I want to be able to lock away my thoughts - my data - from you. And I think most of you are likely to feel the same way. We all want our privacy, but then pretend it's not within the rights of corporations to whisper secrets in our ears - even when we ask it of them.

    If you don't want to use DRM you shouldn't have to. But if I want to send you a "secret" - and you are willing to accept that secret - I should be able to. And if I want to know where that "secret" came from in case you tell it to someone else, what's to stop me from "coloring" it a bit? If you tell a slightly different story to every person you meet then you can be reasonably assured of knowing where the "leak" came from when that someone breaks your trust. Basically you are arguing that publishers don't have the right to tell you a secret - even when you ask them to - and expect you to keep that "secret."

    Trite as it is, it comes down to "no one is forcing you to buy from Disney." And no one can reasonably expect Disney (any more than they could expect an individual - your neighbor, for example) to continue trusting you even after you have proven you would break their trust.

    DRM is about being able to forge trustworthy electronic relationships. I do believe it should not sacrifice anonymity unless there is an absolute need for both parties to do so (and this absolutely does not include commerce exchanges unless it is for physical goods) but I also cannot see our technological future continuing to grow as it has without something better than we have now. And not just a little better, e

  50. For the record... by kramer2718 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I just saw The Two Towers in the theatre last weekend. I'm pretty sure it's still showing.

  51. trusted solaris by Spellbinder · · Score: 0, Redundant

    i think trusted solaris is interesting

    --


    stop supporting microsoft with pirating their software!!!!!
    1. Re:trusted solaris by Spellbinder · · Score: 1

      sorry somehow fcked the link

      --


      stop supporting microsoft with pirating their software!!!!!
  52. Seeing The Two Towers by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    "I just saw The Two Towers in the theatre last weekend. I'm pretty sure it's still showing."

    Let me see, I can drive hundreds of miles to your theatre to see it, I can drive to any place where it is stored to break in and steal a copy (some other guy suggested stealing), or I can get a pirate DVD copy somewhere.

    What is missing is the option to buy a copy from the movie studio. Sure, they will come out with it eventually, but every day they refuse to sell a DVD that people will give them good money for is a day that people will find other ways to access the content.

    I guess they just don't really want the money.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  53. OK, So Let Me Get This Straight by istartedi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    OK, So Let Me Get This Straight... When MS does it, it's Pure Evil (TM). When Stanford does it, it's Happy Fluffy Bunnies. I'm glad we're all clear on that.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  54. That can be cracked by Olathe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let me keep it short :

    Palladium emulator + the cracked private key for my machine = sharable data

    Send both to a friend. Send him whatever data you want. Through the miracle of trusted computing, you can trust that he can read the data.

    1. Re:That can be cracked by asdfghjklqwertyuiop · · Score: 1

      Palladium emulator + the cracked private key for my machine = sharable data

      Yeah that will certainly work. That's a good point, that the data only has to be decrypted once and it is out there forever. But I'd imagine that once they find out that key has been cracked, they will put it on some kind of blacklist, so noone will be willing to send "protected" data to a machine with that key anymore.

  55. Not relevant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Businesses NEED the ability to control their data, not only from theft but from erroneous use."

    Waving your hands, saying "ISO9000" and then saying somehow Palladium help all these "problems" (which you haven't mentioned, just implied) doesn't make any point.

    Businesses need to control their data. What does "control" mean? Do you mean the data is an adaptation of a trade secret? Do you mean others want to keep it from being modified?

    Okay, I'll be generous, I'll assume you "all those things".

    So what you're proposing is that all computers in the world must follow a encryption/decryption standard and authentication scheme that depends on a highly interconnected world to keep your secrets safe.

    Its a dumb frigging way to do it.

    No, it is. You're not well though out, and let me explain out why:

    1) You can bet somebody else will have computers that honor the decryption signal, but little else. That is, your data is only safe from honest and dumb people.

    2) It forces the "trust" out to the ends of the network instead of the middle where it belongs (because you never can trust all the clients)

    3) You never can trust all the clients. Trust me, you just can't.

    4) You're making *YOUR* data secrecy and integrity problem *MY* problem. But its not *MY* problem, its *YOUR* problem. Expecting me to modify my hardware to satisfy you is beyond dumb...

    Ultimately, you're looking for a technical solution to what is a people problem, and typically, technical solutions are too clunky and expensive to actually work.

    So give it up.

    And no, you don't need Palladium to do ISO9000

  56. No, you're wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Studies have shown CONCLUSIVELY that circumcised males have a lower disease rate than non-circumcized males. This is particularly striking in AIDS cases.

    It derives from old Jewish law (like keeping kosher) which indeed have their basis in health rather than god throwing lightening bolts.

    Just because something is old doesn't make it wrong.

    Besides, ...and trust me on this... Hot chicks love to give oral sex to circumcised guys. They won't even touch an uncut cock.

    So fellas, if you're not circumcised, you can count on hairy french chicks, and that's about it. Your loss.

  57. Trusted means... by SiliconEntity · · Score: 1

    Trusted means that your computer is going to behave in a predictable way, that it will just execute the damn program and not fuck with it.

    Is that so horrible? If you can't stand the thought of running a program without screwing with it, then don't try to tell other people that that's what you're going to do.

    All trusted computing means is that you tell other people that you'll run the software cleanly, and they can trust you to tell them the truth. If you can't stand this level of honesty then maybe you better take a good hard look at yourself.

  58. Moron Alert by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "All trusted computing means is that you tell other people that you'll run the software cleanly"

    You can't even define what "cleanly" means, fucktard.

    Okay, sorry for the insult, it was uncalled for and I apologize.

    I'm going to demonstrate why you're dead wrong.

    I buy a CD today. I listen to it. Its cool, really good. I tell my girlfriend about it (my wife is pissed off, but what the hell). Anyway, I tell my girlfriend about it, and she says "cool, let me listen to it". So I put it in its case and hand it to her and say "hey, nice cans, here's the CD, don't scratch it, or I'll smack you in the ass".

    And she puts it in her CD player and listens.

    Now lets go to the digital age... My girlfriend wants to listen to my music in her car. No way... the RIAA says I have a license for personnal use on the downloaded equipment. No dice.

    No problem, I want to listen to it in my car, after all, only total geeks listen to music on their computer.... damn. It won't let me copy it to CD because RIAA says I have no right to copy it to a CD.

    So I listen to it on my PC in the basement. Can't share it with friends, and I can't listen to it in my car.

    But hell, I was just being a thief and a pirate loaning it to my girlfriend.

    Do you get now why this is a bad thing and why I originally called you a fucktard (even though I apologized later after I regretted saying it).

    Are you getting it yet? Do you see why this is a bad thing? Not just because I can't listen to it in my car, but because I no longer have any control over the music I bought. I paid money for the damned thing, and now I can't even listen to it in my car.

    But on the plus side, it will be a cash windfall for the RIAA, so I guess that kind of makes it all worthwhile, eh fucktard?

    Oops, sorry again, it slipped out. I didn't mean it, fucktard.

    1. Re:Moron Alert by SiliconEntity · · Score: 1

      Do you see why this is a bad thing? Not just because I can't listen to it in my car, but because I no longer have any control over the music I bought. I paid money for the damned thing, and now I can't even listen to it in my car.

      Maybe you should have thought of that before you agreed to these restrictions as a condition of purchase. If someone wants to sell music and put conditions on it that you don't like, you have every right to refuse to buy it. But if you do buy it and agree to those conditions, then don't go on whining about it!

      If you don't like the restrictions, then buy music from people who don't put restrictions on it. Or make your own music. But if someone wants to say that you can only listen to their music while wearing a pink tu-tu, you can either agree to the conditions, take the music, and be honest about what you promised, or you can tell them to go take a flying leap.

  59. Re:Given enough power, they do Violate your Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was circumcised when I was 10 because I had an infection in the tip of my penis. It was not AIDS, and it was extremely painful. I couldn't even pee because at one point the whole tip was clogged. The emergency doctor had to scrap some infectious material out with a sharp tool so I could pee then. I had surgery soon after (drugged to sleep). Recovery was very very painful also, and I had to eat awful tasting medication (that was the easiest part too).

    The benefits outweigh the costs in my opinion. What's a little pain for a baby compared to the extra pain associated with disease. Also, no studies have in any way linked circumcision [sic?] in children to anything else later in life.

    And that was severly off topic, but I couldn't let some BS go free.

  60. YOU ARE WRONG DIPSHIT. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.cirp.org/library/general/laumann/ Your opinion is EXACTLY why we shouldn't mix religion with science.

  61. Circumcision IS HORRIBLE WHEN IT GOES WRONG. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.infocirc.org/fourn.htm

    Would you rather have THAT happen to you?

  62. Suits Me ... by ciderpunk · · Score: 1

    Big corporations can keep the crappy, empty, mind-numbingly tedious corporate MTV sludge they churn out, whilst we create our own free and open media. They're the ones who'll lose out when I don't buy their snake-oil...

  63. Please do explain.... by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    [Not really. The real problem is the DMCA. If the DMCA were repealed, DRM would not be a problem].Please do explain.

    The DMCA makes it illegal to "crack" and bypass these copy protection schemes which make it difficult sometimes to even view material on DVD's which you have paid for.

    "You do not own the content, you own the media it's on."

    Then how come they advertise "own a movie today", instead of "own the disc the movie is recorded on"?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  64. Everyone is a capitalist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "We're capitalists, however Speak for yerself."

    Everyone is a capitalist and favors capitalism, as capitalism is nothing more than the system in which you make your (or "Yer") own decisions about your economic life.

    The difference lies between free-market capitalists, and socialists (who believe that only government elites should be allowed to make economic decisions). The socialist leaders like Fidel Castro and Josef Stalin are among the most successful capitalists of all time: they used their decisions to become amazingly rich and powerful while outlawing anyone else doing the same.

  65. You can listen to it in your car by AtariAmarok · · Score: 1

    "Do you see why this is a bad thing? Not just because I can't listen to it in my car"

    You can listen to it in your car, but you will have to get a free copy of the song off Grokster or some other such place. This is just another example of how these DRM strategies encourage piracy and discourage sales.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  66. To protect and separate system instances by hughk · · Score: 1
    A VM is small, with limited functionality, so that it can be easily verified. Any OS is much larger and thus much more difficult to verify that it is working correctly and maintaining integrity.

    A secure VM implementation allows an untrusted system to be run on the same platform as trusted code. Just say I was running Windows with that new nasty little worm/trojan that does keyboard interception. I can have one instance of Windows for home-banking and another for Email. If the executable code for each instance was kept separate, the instance where I received it may be toasted but the one used for banking access would have no problem.

    --
    See my journal, I write things there
  67. Re:MPAA.. - who the modded this "insightful" ?! by pinka4242 · · Score: 0

    Could you explain what law in what country defines this as stealing? Speaking for myself I can assure you that becoz of their shitty marketing practices and inability to provide me with the product that is fully deliverable I am not going to wait and pay them big $$ anywayz so i might as well copy it. what are "they" losing in this picture and what am I stealing ? I already saw the movie twice, and paid for those times. I have photographic memory anyways so it doesnt actually matter for me... Oh wait! Am I stealing anywayz becoz of my memory ? Maybe I shouldnt advertize that publicly.

  68. DRM != Trusted Computing by hughk · · Score: 3, Insightful
    DRM is just one application of a trusted platform. The others are benign, ensuring that only software that you trust can take certain actions like intercepting keystrokes or sending Email.

    The problem is that the trusted layer *must* be small so that it can be completely verified. Applications can't be so easily verified and it would still be possible to compromise Outlook, for example to send unwanted EMail. All the signature does is to say that the software hasn't been modified, but we know that applications don't need bad code to misbehave, they only need the right kind of bad data. Once the code has been signed, it must be signed again verey time it is patched. A far from simple logistical problem.

    OTOH, smaller code may be more easily verified - so a driver for a Smart Card reader could be protected, as could SSL. However a programmer can still make a mistake and allow the code to be compromised.

    --
    See my journal, I write things there
  69. Oh grow up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Worry about something that matters.

    Nobody even worries about it except people with latent homosexual urges. Nobody cares except you.

  70. Corporate Cops by pchasco · · Score: 1

    What about the fact that DRM puts the power to enforce copyrights into corporation's hands, instead of the judicial system as it should be?

  71. what's YOUR problem? by alizard · · Score: 1

    Since you're obviously a tard, nobody buys information from you anyway.

  72. Fair use if far broader than that by smiff · · Score: 1
    DRM does protect fair use - it allows copyright holders to mark their content so it can be copied for personal use (between different devices for example) without having to allow it to be distributed illegally.

    There is a lot more to fair use than being able to make personal copies. Making personal copies is one of the least justifiable means of exercising fair use. Fair use is so broad it can't even be defined. The law simply lists four criteria for courts to consider when assessing fair use.

    Fair use can, for example, involve distributing video clips to analyze a debate. Fair use could involve making a program run on a different computer platform. Fair use could involve real-time resequencing of a movie to eliminate offensive imagery. Someone may exercise their fair-use rights by indexing a website for their search engine. Digital Rights Management doesn't permit any of these. As far as DRM is concerned, fair use only fits into a narrowly proscribed range of activity.

  73. You are all wrong by Mensa+Babe · · Score: 1

    How can Palladium have anything to do with "trust" when they violate trust and anything else by intruding into my computer and controlling my content?

    *sigh*

    I have read every single comment to this story, which is talking about how these systems supposedly cannot be called "trusted systems."

    Everyone here is wrong.

    You would know that, if you knew were the term "trusted system" originates from. It has been used in US DoD for much longer, than the whole recent "DRM" hype has been around.

    A "trusted system" is a system, which can break the security policy. No more, no less.

    I'm really surprised that no one here knows what one is talking about. Well, maybe not that surprised, however quite annoyed, to say the very least.

    This whole "DRM" buzzword hype has been around for quite some time already, and still it causes so much misunderstanding.

    We just cannot effectively fight against anything, which we don't even understand. We have to always remember that, if we are ever going to change anything.
    --
    Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)