UK Government Pushing For 'Trusted Computing'

Motor writes "As has long been expected — we are now beginning to see governments pushing for the use of so-called 'trusted computing' — chips installed in all computers that effectively remove control of the PC from its owner. While there may be security advantages to some of the ideas, few can doubt that it represents a fundamental shift in the IT world. A radical move away from an open technology landscape and towards a system that denies all access unless you have the right credentials. Governments will demand the right credentials to access their services — meaning approved software stacks (i.e Windows) with the right digital signatures. Vernor Vinge had it right ."

Comments

There is an intellectual property-security complex

[0xdeadbeef]

Actually, no, Richard Stallman had it right long before Vernor Vinge.

DRM has never been about getting paid, it has always been about keeping control. And for all the shit Microsoft got about Palladium, the Apple zealots sure turned a 180 in 2007.

But the zealots are right about one thing - the iPhone is the future of computing. And that future is a boot stamping on a human face, forever.

Re:No, Thank You, Dear Government

[chill]

Easily, if you hold the keys. The trick is the keys that sign the boot image need to be in your control.

Google does this with their CR-48 Chromebook. It will only boot Google-signed images. But, there is a small switch in the battery compartment to put it into developer mode where it'll boot any image.

I *LIKE* TPM, as long as I generate the signing keys for the images. Then it'll boot what *I* tell it, and not necessarily what MS or the gov't, or anyone else tell it to.

It ensure that *I* can trust my computer. Screw what they want to trust.