April 8th, 2006
Did Intel Forget to Mention that Palladium/Trusted Computing DRM is Embedded in New Intel Macs?
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
This week the world rejoiced. Mac users could run Windows XP or OSX and switch between them with the newly released Boot Camp. Not the best solution (you have to restart the system to switch to the other OS) but better than software emulation and hey, it’s a start.
Now the bad news. It looks like Intel has embedded “Trusted Computing” DRM protection in its Infineon chip and forgot to tell people. If you remember the Sony rootkit uproar, you know this is not small news.
The basic idea of Trusted Computing is that security on a computer is obtained via hardware, through a specific chip dedicated exclusively to this task and called Trusted Platform Module (TPM). It’s a very controversial project, as I wrote four years ago. Originally sold as a beneficial security system for users (which is partially true), trusted Computing and Palladium risk to open the doors to inviolable copy-protection systems and to censorship and surveillance issues to unprecedented levels. The analysis by Electronic Frontier Foundation is inexorable and rigorous; although also the IBM refutation is worth reading. Source: Masternewmedia
The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), formerly known as Palladium, is a software architecture designed by Microsoft which is expected to implement controversial parts of their “Trustworthy Computing” concept on future versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft’s stated aim for NGSCB is to increase the security and privacy of computer users[1], but critics assert that the technology will not only fail to solve the majority of contemporary IT security problems, but also result in an increase in vendor lock-in and a resulting reduction in competition in the IT marketplace. Source: Wikipedia
More on Palladium
More on Trusted Computing
Rod says:
> It looks like Intel has embedded “Trusted Computing” DRM protection in its Infineon chip
I was under the impression that Infineon is “The Semiconductor Company formerly known as Siemens.
April 8th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
David Johnston says:
This is actually old news. These chips have been around in the Intel Macs since the developer kits first came out. How do you guys think Apple is stopping OS X from being installed on “generic” PC’s?
BTW, these chips also allow for each Mac to have a unique hardware ID. I guess that might be nice if it gets stolen, but I’m not too sure about what else it might be used for… I’m glad that none of my current computers have these kinds of chips in them.
April 8th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Paolo Attivissimo says:
Hi, I’m the author of the article quoted and translated quite well into English by Masternewmedia. As I’m half British, I’ve prepared my own English updated version here, if anyone is interested: http://attivissimo.blogspot.com/2006/04/trusted-computing-chips-found-in-intel.html
April 9th, 2006 at 2:52 am
Eric G says:
Wow, a Tech site by and for crazy people. Is EFF really part of this lunacy?
Intel did not put the TPM chip in the Mac, Apple did. Believe it or not, many customers want TPM.
April 9th, 2006 at 6:48 am
Rod Shuffler says:
My IBM Thinkpad T40 from 2002 has TPM built in. Warez my security?
Also, I note Dells have unique serial numbers as do IBM eServers - this allows for such thing as tracking warranty information.
But because a platform with 2% - two percent - market share ship a computer with TPM installed, this is somehow “news”?!
Apple have more influence than people like to admit, that much is obvious!
April 9th, 2006 at 7:09 am
Mart says:
Everyone knows this already. And you fail utterly to link the TPM hardware to the Sony rootkit, as seems to be your goal. What does one have to do with the other? Nothing. What a load of nonsense. Thanks for wasting my time.
April 9th, 2006 at 7:14 am
Rainer Brockerhoff says:
This really is old news… for people who are surprised by this, I’ve written a dissenting commentary.
April 9th, 2006 at 7:38 am
A concerned consumer says:
mart, if you fail to see any similarity between two instances of companies restricting what you can do with your own computer, and not even mentioning it, then thanks for wasting MY time with your post.
April 9th, 2006 at 8:11 am
Wiggo says:
If the EFF is against it, I’m for it.
Bunch of idiot lawyers.
April 9th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Mart says:
Hey concerned consumer, you don’t understand the difference between hardware that *could* be used for something bad and software that *actually does* something bad? Take your half-baked snark back to /.
April 9th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Daniel says:
The Wikipedia links to the Trusted Computing links ARE DOWN - no other Wikipedia links are down as fara s I can see. This is ominous!!
April 9th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Meander says:
David Johnston: “these chips also allow for each Mac to have a unique hardware ID” –
you already have that. It’s called Ethernet. Look into it.
(Yes, you can modify the hardware ID on most interfaces if you know what you’re doing, but by the same token, you can also ignore the TPM chip — it’s not a fucking secret subspace radio transceiver. It’s basically an encryption accelerator and key store.)
April 9th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
concerned consumer says:
well mart i’m sorry no one is as l33t as you. i do see a similarity here, but i won’t waste any more of your precious time about it. odd though, for someone who is so worried about their time being wasted, that here you still are, whining. i leave you and your completely-baked self to sit here and fume about this. i’ll move on with my life.
April 9th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
concerned consumer says:
well mart, i’m sorry i’m not l33t like you. funny how you’re still here whining though, in spite of how badly this wasted your time. for someone who postures so much, you must be very insecure. i’ll move on with my life now. i suggest you do the same, but i doubt your fully-baked self will allow you to.
April 9th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
concerned consumer says:
sorry for the double post. the first one didn’t show until after i posted the second. i hope everyone but mart forgives me
April 9th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
David Johnston says:
“David Johnston: “these chips also allow for each Mac to have a unique hardware ID” —
you already have that. It’s called Ethernet. Look into it.
(Yes, you can modify the hardware ID on most interfaces if you know what you’re doing, but by the same token, you can also ignore the TPM chip — it’s not a fucking secret subspace radio transceiver. It’s basically an encryption accelerator and key store.) ”
Let me know when you’ve modified the encryption keys on the TPM chip. Yes, there is the MAC address of your network adapter, but those are easily replaceable on most laptops (mini-PCI cards). This is soldered into the motherboard.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:42 am
David Johnston says:
BTW, I was also commenting about the unique hardware ID because Apple *uses* this chip to give each computer a unique hardware ID.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Stephan Schwab says:
There is another use to TPM: virtualization. The announcements from Parallels and VMware’s CEO aren’t that important. It may well be that Apple will ship a TPM based virtualization solution by August.
April 10th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
whayba says:
guarenteed credit cards canada
May 10th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
efodwy says:
13 bankruptcy status quo %
May 10th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
tygwat says:
guaranteed line of credit
May 10th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
quzahi says:
first premier my status
May 10th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
fobnoc says:
wwww.first premier bank.com c
May 10th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
mnozor says:
fico score 528 unsecured credit card
May 11th, 2007 at 12:04 am
aucziy says:
credit cards with score of 600 o
May 11th, 2007 at 1:31 am
puwunu says:
credit cards for rebuilding credit instant approval
May 11th, 2007 at 1:48 am
budkyc says:
what is tribute gold mastercard
May 11th, 2007 at 2:16 am
ozrume says:
first premier card login
May 11th, 2007 at 2:29 am
goboak says:
credit card after bankruptcy no annual fee p
May 11th, 2007 at 2:38 am
ewhebi says:
unsecured credit card with 612 fico score
May 11th, 2007 at 2:52 am
bdoqwi says:
bad credit credit card instant approval get your card in 3 days /
May 11th, 2007 at 3:03 am
dlynsu says:
credit cards people who have filed bankruptcy
May 11th, 2007 at 5:08 am
jojqus says:
credit cards for 602 fico score
May 11th, 2007 at 5:26 am
yemkeu says:
no annual fee for bad credit cards n
May 11th, 2007 at 5:39 am
whayba says:
aspire visa.com. c
May 11th, 2007 at 5:55 am
facwyo says:
which company give credit cards to bankrupts i
May 11th, 2007 at 6:11 am
pexagu says:
credit card garanteed approval d
May 11th, 2007 at 6:32 am
ejyuhu says:
secured credit card bad credit bankruptcy n
May 11th, 2007 at 7:22 am
iokpklqthn says:
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! wqkyasvylbpi
June 21st, 2007 at 5:27 am
翻译公司 says:
At the dawn of the Labour Day.
签证保险
To make money for fighting in the elite of the community extended lofty revolutionary salute!
May 18th, 2008 at 7:43 pm