Slashdot Mirror
Trusted Computing Rollout Hits the Desktop
Alsee writes "Previously appearing in a few rare laptops, ExtremeTech reports on the first major computer manufacturer making a full scale Trusted Computing rollout. Samsung will now install the Phoenix Core Managed Environment (cME) BIOS in every computer they make. Previous Slashdot reports on this BIOS include Phoenix Bios to Incorporate DRM and Microsoft Taking Over the BIOS."
IBM has had thinkpads containing TCPA chips for years! On top of that, they provide a Linux driver for it on their website!
I recall something about one of the Phoenix guys saying that the consumer was not their customer, the media companies were.
Uh, no.
He said that the motherboard manufacturers are their customers. Which is true. Have you ever called pheonix and ordered a BIOS?
He said nothing about your imagined conspiracy theory about the "media companies".
Oh, BTW, the FDIC mandated those thumbprints.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
You might want to take a look at the LinuxBIOS project if you're interested in an unrestricted alternative.
SmashTech - No smashing of tech involved
HP has been shipping computers with complete restore info on the HD for about a 1 or 1 & 1/2 years now. If you want CDs, you have to request them on their site, by mail, or phone.
If the drive dies, they send you a new drive with all the OS info pre-loaded....the average user doesn't even realize that they are using space...
First, I think it's partly the fear of being poised at the top of a slippery slope. (Granted, the "slippery slope" argument is a logical fallacy--but debates are not won on logic alone.)
...which is not precisely an answer to the question you asked, but does explain why the question you asked is not precisely the right one. ;)
So it's completely peachy and great that there's a backup copy of your OS partitioned off on your drive, and tech support can just walk you through a reinstall unless you somehow managed to hose the partition.
Then, they start shipping computers that do an automatic OS reinstall when certain conditions are met. Maybe annoying for power users, but it will serve most people well.
Then a third-party vendor asks, "Hey, can we get in on this? Have our software phone home telling how the owner uses it. Then we can improve future versions." Annoying, but for a good cause, right?
Then the data this third-party is getting shows that people are jumping ship on their application for one that costs less, and they cripple cross-functionality...and keep sending updates to your computer even if you patch it back the way you want it to be. But you don't get to say anything, because you clicked Yes on the EULA.
Then, seeing the success, a bunch of other vendors jump on the "trusted" bandwagon, and suddenly your computer is about as much yours as if it were part of a bot net. Incremental steps toward a worst-case DRM-everything, your-PC-is-controlled-by-vendors future is what the worry is about.
Is it a justified worry? Given the tendency of, well, humanity to take a mile when given an inch, and the disturbingly long and broad reach of corporations, I'd say yes.
Second, I think the furor over trusted computing is a matter of principle. Allowing control of one's computer to be placed in the hands of one or many corporations, or the government, is something many people, me included, find abhorrent. It's a thread of libertarianism (little "l," moderators, not the political party) that, as far as I can tell, runs through a great many of the more common Slashdot opinions.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
For a slightly doom-spelling (unforunately Ross tends to be right far too often) check Cambridge University professor Ross Anderson's Trusted Computing FAQ. There is also his Cryptography and Competition Policy - Issues with `Trusted Computing' paper as well.
You can also look at documents at Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, and I recommend reading The TCPA; What's wrong; What's right and what to do about by William A. Arbaugh