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Major PC Makers Adopt Trusted Computing Schema
An anonymous reader wrote to let us known about a News.com story regarding so-called trusted computing, and its adoption by the major PC manufacturers. From the article: "The three largest computer makers--Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM--have started selling desktops and notebooks with so-called trusted computing hardware, which allows security-sensitive applications to lock down data to a specific PC." Interestingly, while Microsoft is said to be behind the idea support won't be forthcoming for trusted computing until they release Longhorn next year, making this a hardware-vendor lead initiative.
At the time, digital-rights advocates raised concerns that the technology could be used by software makers and media companies to control people's PCs, putting Microsoft on the defensive. The dispute even led the software giant to change the name of its technology from Palladium to the Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, or NGSCB.
And yes, we all know that now that the name of their security technology is different Microsoft can't "team up" with the hardware makers to lock down PCs to a single OS. It wouldn't be in the best interests of either side to do that right? Oh wait, MSFT already has contractual agreements that basically force this to happen why not take it a step further and make people not only pay extra for the OS pre-installed/distributed w/the PC but also make them have no choice but to run it once they get it.
I love the wording in the article... Oooh it's the hardware vendors taking the initiative and not Microsoft (like Microsoft is always at the forefront of technology or something). Is that supposed to make me feel better that the entire computing platform will be locked down leading to the end of free distribution of anything, the Internet as we know it, etc?
Didn't Ben Franklin say something about this? Yeah.
How about trusted users? The computers aren't the problem, it's the users. It takes a confident voice to say, I'm person X and I am working on the mainframe, I need your username and password. Big words like mainframe scare people. People can't be trusted.
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
I don't care about that mp3 file, or that movie.
I care about a future where I am still able to download, modify and share OSS software.
If executables have to be validated and signed for trustworthyness, then everyone will need to compile their own.
The "legit" version of firefox may work, but modify the source and compile your own, and it won't play in your windows system. Don't even think of taking it to your friends' house.
(somebody please tell me I am wrong about this)
liqbase
... is bound to be a pain in the arse if you get a new PC.
I suspect that the idea is that you'd use hardware-based encryption (which must be optional, otherwise general removable media would be worthless) and the OS would be expected to support it through some service layer. But anything it does in hardware should be emulatable in software. So, the solution is only truly useful if all parties agree to play nice. That seems to be a ludicrous expectation.
It seems to me that the strategy is wrong. There's no mechanism that isn't ultimately circumventable, so simply eliminate the complex hurdles and work such that there's nothing to circumvent and no reason to do so (change the model of how you operate).
Notice the "safety in numbers" flocking together of these vendors. None of them dare take such a step alone, because they know damned well that the publicity will be bad... and people won't buy their hardware. But put together and nice consortium of the largest hardware makers... and boom, everything's ok and fuck the consumer since he no longer has much choice.
...this is something that businesses want (ones that already control your computing environment, like at work), and I really don't see it being aimed at the typical consumer.
I would also say that there will always be a market for open computers. The market always has ways around this.
the "key" is right in the hardware itself....
i have no doubt that this so-called 'trusted computing' will be compromised by hackers at some point....
what bothers me is:
software and hardware vendors will CONTROL the computer, not the owner (well, they will control the owner and his use of the computer. the owner will have no control). billy boy will control whether or not your microsoft word will function (even if you've paid for it).
new software "activation" (which is complete bs to begin with) will soon be tied to this trusted chip.. replace the motherboard, you'll need to replace the software too? (or be inconvenienced by having to phone each one's india-based call center and beg for mercy)...
i've also read (dont remember where, it was awhile ago) that software may very well refuse to install on computers with non-compliant hardware (read: no "chip" or hacked chip)......
since each computer will have it's own "key" embedded right in the hardware, each one will be different...
individual computers will be easy to track on the internet...... spyware will be able to track you by PC.. here, there, and everywhere.. even if you format and reinstall the os.. when they "get" you again, they'll be able to match up the current infestation with the last......
this is worse, much worse, than the cpu serial numbers intel tried to force onto people a few years ago (starting with the p3).
thank the mighty powers that be, for open source solutions.....
This does not "lock" a computer to make it free from viruses or spyware. It "locks" a computer to keep it from playing non-DRM content. Basically, it takes control of the PC away from the user and hands it over to the RIAA, BSA, and the MPAA
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
I don't know how thoroughly we've all digested it yet, but open source has arrived, and in addition to changing what people expect of their software, it has raised the bar considerably for corporations like Microsoft. It is already eating their breakfast in the server space, and it is growing to the point where in a few more years there is potential to threaten their client desktops as well, starting with businesses and other large, lucrative deployments. We as an industry are starting to recognize, and ultimatly demand, the benefits of freedom.
On the one hand I like Microsoft buying into the wild-eyed "Alamo" mentality of the content trust, trying to arm wrestle every customer for control, because the more aggressive they get with Digital Restrictions Management, the more it will drive everyone into the arms of competitors, including open and free software.
I wish I could say I thought trusted computing was doomed to fail, but frankly I think it can be considerably successful. If the end result is that your computer is not managed by you, and 3rd parties like Microsoft can take the XBox busines model (and probably, simplicity of interface) deeper into PC territory, this is probably a relief for a variety of consumers beleaguered with "general purpose" computing and all that it entails, viruses, spyware, etc. Better software architecture could solve their problems, but outside control can solve it almost as well.
I guess what will ultimately happen is balkanization, as more aggressive attempts at controlling the platform will split consumers into low and high ends. At the low end, the "game console" converges into a media system and a simple home computer, where every application is trusted and the vendor is the gatekeeper. They'll be happier because, like video consoles today, the hardware is cheap and the costs are deferred into the software and services. At the high end, the general purpose PC that is currently a staple in the home will fade into niche status - a tool for hobbyists and professionals. What fills the void in between, in the end, is hopefully a free-software-based system that is simple enough for all consumers to use, that provides them with an alternative to commercial products, perhaps marketed by a white knight corporation much as IBM has taken free software to the server world.
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Ever since I've been in this field the allure of computers for me has been that you have a general-purpose device that, with a little ingenuity, can be made to do just about anything. A computer does exactly what you tell it to do. Now your average PC buyer can't even appreciate the difference between not knowing and not caring about what's inside their shiny new computers. But I can and I'll be damned if I ever spend any of my hard-earned cash on a device that will do what someone else tells it to do and not what I tell it to do.
Can't say I'm surprised. We knew this was coming several years ago. I bought a new keyboard last week and was shocked at the number of MS keyboards on display featuring the little fingerprint reader built right in. Within a few years we'll probably have the gubmint mandating all new PCs be equipped with TC elements. To keep us safe from terrorists no doubt.
On the bright side this will be hacked from here to kingdom come. In that sense it's good they're showing their hand now so intrepid BIOS hackers and EEs can start peeling away the mystery. What's that? The latest software won't work without TC? TC-compliant apps will work better together? Yeah. Right.
What happens when you try to use your untrusted OS to go onto a website to download content?
How do you explain to your relatives that internet access is blocked because the ISP cannot confirm your trusted status?
At first glance, putting your head in the sand and running away from the problem is feasible, but if this plays out as far as people expect, then your machine is not your own, and the only way round it is total compliance.
Think of an x-box as 1st generation.
Without some VERY clever trickery, you cannot run uncertified software, and you can pretty much give up all hope of playing online.
liqbase
I think MS and Intel have underestimated people's determination not to be shafted by The Man.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
When trusted computing was a USB chip that the os could ignore, I did nothing - my os did ignore it.
When the trusted computing chip was needed to run Windows, I did nothing, I did not run windows.
When the trusted computing chip checksummed the bios, I did nothing, I could still boot linux.
When the trusted computing chip could lock out the bios or any OS not signed I did nothing...
my computer no longer worked.
I don't know what country you live in, but in the USA our laws are made by corporations. If "pirate networks" gain in popularity, they will be outlawed and people who promote them or run them will be put in jail.
hardware dongles? Or DVD CSS for that matter?
You might say "but but but but but but" this is going to be different, more secure, stronger.
Or something. But you're still going to be selling the public hardware, that they control. Hell, some of these computers will never be accessing the internet or any network at all. How will you control what they do after you turn them into the hands of the customer?
You made hardware dongles for expensive programs, they were broken. You made hardware copy protection for console game platforms, it was broken (even when games were shipped as a cartridge, eventually people made cloners)
You've made DVD players you thought were unbreakable, unleashed them on the masses, then they were broken, so to spite everyone you created new laws to try to stop people from doing it (DMCA)
You created directTV and dish network. They're hacked. And before that? Satallite TV was scrambled, but there were descramblers.
ANY hardware based "encryption" or "dongle" or "trusted computing initiative" is security through obscurity. Do you think every person who ever worked for all these conglomerate companies will be able to keep a secret?
The first person who finds out you use pins 1 and 6 on the chip to pass keying information will end up leaking it to the public. Said public will start watching those pins and find out what needs to be sent to "ok" a program running.
So you tell me your "dongle" is smack dab in the middle of the CPU, no sniffing possible?
Someone will just realease the keys then. It's only a matter of time. In the meantime, you're just blowing smoke up the asses of all the customers you have who want this product, and pissing off all the customers who don't want this product.
Give it a rest. PC's were pretty cool until you started breaking them. If you make them too hard to use, the world as a whole will find something new to play with.
HP is already on the fritz because they've merged too many times and found out they can't be the next IBM. Imagine if everyone stops buying from you and starts buying from a toaster company?