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Should We Be Afraid of TPM Chips?
AcidArrow asks: "I was looking to buy a new laptop and since I wanted to be on the bleeding edge, I thought one with the new core duo chips would be just what I need. Among the features on the laptops I was looking was 'Trusted Platform Module chip for the safety of your data'. Now, I don't know of any real uses for a TPM chip yet, but is this something that should worry me, or keep me from buying a laptop with said 'feature'? I don't intend to use it and I would like to disable it, if possible, but I don't want to make it easier for anyone to track down what I'm doing on my laptop."
Is it possible to get a model of said laptop without a TPM chip? It should be. If you go to Dell and buy a laptop, you're for the most part, able to customize nearly everything to suit your needs. Would the TPM chip be any different. I read about them and see no reason for most people to have any use of them. Nothing like shoving new or unwanted technology down everyone's throats.
What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?
You might want to do a little research on the efficacy of finger-print identification systems - in short it is pretty much nil. The cheap ones can usually be fooled by simply retrying a bunch of times with the finger at different angles, the more expensive ones can be easily fooled with the equivalent of a jello mold of the valid fingerprint - which can often be lifted directly off the scanner itself via the skin-oil left by the most recent user. So your 2-factor authentication is really more of a 1.1-factor authentication.
Firstly you can disable the chip from BIOS or driver software
1. Is this even the case with the new Intel macs?
2. If you disable the chip from bios, can the OS re-enable it without your consent?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts