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Phoenix Bios to Incorporate DRM

Posted by michael on from the goodbye-free-software dept.

defishguy writes "Extreme Tech is reporting that Phoenix Technologies is shopping a DRM-capable BIOS to OEMS. Reportedly the BIOS with DRM enabled allows for software to be tracked and traced from one PC to another." See also this older story about AMI.

4 of 530 comments (clear)

  1. Perhaps it's time to send Pheonix a message ... by molarmass192 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't do it, you're pretty easy to replace.

    --

    Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
  2. Contact them and tell them by genevaroth · · Score: 5, Informative

    I found their email address, contact them and tell them how much this sucks.

    investor_relations@phoenix.com

  3. Re:That's fine by me... by EzInKy · · Score: 5, Informative

    The best opposition to this would be and Open Source BIOS. I've no idea if this is possible, likely, or already being done. It simply seems like the best response to DRM enabled BIOS.

    The OpenBios project has been in the works for a while now.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
  4. Re:Will this not require an DRM aware OS? by LordNimon · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm not trying to be argumentative but are you sure about that?

    Yes, I'm 100% positive. I used to be a BIOS developer and I have 10 years' experience in device drivers. The whole point behind a modern OS like Linux and Windows 2000/XP is to prevent apps from talking to any hardware resource (and memory and BIOS count as hardware resources) without the OS's permission. An app can't issue an interrupt, nor can it make a call into some fixed memory location in the BIOS. The CPU will just not allow these operations.

    --
    And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
    To mold a new reality... closer to the heart