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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
What happens when your PC dies? How do you recover using the now useless backups? There's bound to be a way to bypass that. Sounds like the data requires a physical key (sentry?). Someone somehow will bypass it.
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Hug my mac tightly tonight, and trust it to only have one master: me.
ShortFormBlog: Writing a little. Saying a lot.
...that was the sound of me moving from x86 to PPC.
(As long as debian keeps up support.)
Just remember, folks: "Trusted computing" is an Orwellian phrase that actually means your computer won't trust you. So if you want your computer to have to ability to say to you, "Sorry, I won't play that MP3 file" or "Sorry, that movie is not authorized for this PC," well step right up. Barnum & Co. -- er, sorry, I mean major PC hardware companies have some new machines to sell to you.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
this: http://www.gentoo.org/news/20050202-trustedgentoo. xml and, linked from there, this:
http://www.research.ibm.com/gsal/tcpa/tcpa_rebutta l.pdf
If Linux gets in on the game then surely this could be a positive thing for computer users.
See the Trusted Gentoo project for example.
Until we see locked down BIOSes then this is hardly a threat to Linux if it responds quickly.
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Trustworthy computing... brought to you by a monopolist convicted using anti-trust laws.
rms on trusted computing
IBM has had the hardware in place in their laptop line for the last several years. It makes repairs which require a motherboard swap a PITA because you have to be sure to order the part with the crypto in place if your current system had one, which might not know about the first time you do one, resulting in a several day delay....
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
This sort of crap runs contrary to Apple's philosophy, and I don't think they'll want it in their hardware (heck, they don't even copy protect their OS). However, they may get forced into it for compatibility. I believe in trusted computing - I trust myself not to be dumb.
... 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).
...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.
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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It's going to be so nice, knowing that my data in my PC can't be taken away, erased, trashed, or otherwise caused to be lost. This will keep my stuff secure, for me.
Finally, I'll be able to trust my computer.
It's time to push for an hard for a free bios. You can help if you
can figure out how to install a new bios on a computer, especially a
laptop. I don't know why we can put linux on an xbox but nobody can
get a free bios on a laptop.
Stick to AMD machines, avoid Intel and IBM. Heh, IBM. We talk like
they're our allies but they're pushing patents and treacherous
computing. They're a _much_ bigger threat than SCO ever was.
If you haven't yet read stallman's dystopian short story The Right To Read,
this might be a good time.
Treacherous computing is the reason I'm a GNU+linux user.
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.
Of course, such a system would have undesirable uses as well, DRM and the like...
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?
A few years back, when I was a law student, I wrote my law review student note on trusted computing (published last year). I've made it available here if anyone is interested. Not sure I still agree with the thesis but hey, I was ensconced in academia when I wrote it.
http://actusre.us/cjam/woodford.pdf
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