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Trusted Computing? WTF...
A2597
Fanboy
in Zocalo v2.0
OK, I just heard about this a few minutes ago, looked it up, and DANG...
Total loss of privacy an animuity online.
Basically, it's a chip they plan to install in every computer, (DVD player, cell phone, etc etc etc) that is connected to a data base of every file on the net. Every file you create gets it's own serial number that is stored on a database.
What that translates to is, every file can be traced back to the originator, and they control what files you can use, or not use.
Warez, gone. Music Downloads? gone. Viruses? Gone. Privacy? Gone.
So, you buy a DVD online, it lets you burn it. Once. Then it deletes the file. That DVD? It's now on the database as well. so you can watch it. On your PC. Can't rip it back to AVI format, because it knows what it is. Can't take it to your friends PC either, because it knows it's your disc, not his.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing[/url]
I'm sorry, but that is on the border of legality in my mind. I already don't trust any government on this planet, and at this point, I really don't see what keeps big brother from watching what sites we visit, etc etc.
Seriously, I want kids, but I don't want them to grow up in this world anymore. I'm not certain how much [b]I[/b] want to live in this world, when things like privacy pertain only to those that refuse to be taken in by technology, and therefor are shunned by their fellow man.
*Sigh*
AH.
[url]http://www.againsttcpa.com/[/url]
Total loss of privacy an animuity online.
Basically, it's a chip they plan to install in every computer, (DVD player, cell phone, etc etc etc) that is connected to a data base of every file on the net. Every file you create gets it's own serial number that is stored on a database.
What that translates to is, every file can be traced back to the originator, and they control what files you can use, or not use.
Warez, gone. Music Downloads? gone. Viruses? Gone. Privacy? Gone.
So, you buy a DVD online, it lets you burn it. Once. Then it deletes the file. That DVD? It's now on the database as well. so you can watch it. On your PC. Can't rip it back to AVI format, because it knows what it is. Can't take it to your friends PC either, because it knows it's your disc, not his.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_computing[/url]
I'm sorry, but that is on the border of legality in my mind. I already don't trust any government on this planet, and at this point, I really don't see what keeps big brother from watching what sites we visit, etc etc.
Seriously, I want kids, but I don't want them to grow up in this world anymore. I'm not certain how much [b]I[/b] want to live in this world, when things like privacy pertain only to those that refuse to be taken in by technology, and therefor are shunned by their fellow man.
*Sigh*
AH.
[url]http://www.againsttcpa.com/[/url]
Comments
[B]I mean, I admire your outrage, but welcome to 1996. [/B][/QUOTE]
1984, or 1998, depending on how you look at it. ;)
:rolleyes:
[B]'98, '98... what happened in '98? [/B][/QUOTE]
my bad, I ment 1984 or 1999 depending on how you look at it.
(TCPA was founded in 1999)
For the eighty-ninth time, trusted computing is not the end of the world. Go ahead, go out and buy Vista and a new Intel motherboard with a TPM chip in it. Then fire up DVD Decrypter and start ripping your DVDs from Netflix. What will you hear? Not the pitter-patter of little feet coming to take you away, not the sounds of sirens as the police swarm your house, only, in the stillness of the night, the strangled sounds of your own conscience. You could even share the stuff online, but once they figured out your IP address they'd come after you anyway, just like they would today without any helpful TPM chips at all.
Now, with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray around the corner, Microsoft decided it was better to build-in support for Hollywood's DRM schemes than be left behind. The way I've heard it will work is like this: the entire pipeline from HD disc to your monitor is encrypted. Trying to grab the output anywhere, be it on the system bus or on the monitor port, will fail because of this encryption. Is this a bad thing? You tell me. Personally I think the only downside is that you may have to buy a new monitor somewhere down the line that supports the encryption scheme. However, at the moment, none of the studios are requiring that the unencrypted content be downsampled, so you could watch these discs at 1080p on an analog monitor at the moment and they wouldn't care. But they can still change that.
Now, the interesting thing is that HD-DVD legally allows for ripping of DVDs. That's right, I said legal, since DVD Decrypter and other like tools are illegal for circumventing the DMCA. What HD-DVD gives you is the chance to rip a DVD to your computer, but that file is tied just to your computer thanks to the TPM chip. So it's useful as an archive or a backup, but you can't go and share it online.
On the other hand, you could just vote with your wallet and stay out of this all together. Don't buy HD-DVDs or Blu-Ray. Nobody's forcing you. Don't like the idea of all your word documents being traceable to you? Well, for one thing I'm not convinced that this won't simply be a check box you can turn off somewhere in Word, but if not, simply use OpenOffice. Nobody's stopping you.
As for warez and piracy, it'll still happen. Sure, it'll be much much harder, and it'll be easier to get caught as time goes on and more and more people get wise to the problem, but they'll find a way around it somehow.
Privacy? I'm sorry, Big Brother doesn't need a chip in your computer to invade your privacy. It's called an IP address. Go ahead, if you've got broadband and you're in the US, I dare you to go and seed an episode of Galactica for a week on BitTorrent and not get a cease and desist. Kids, what you do online wasn't 100% anonymous to begin with. And nor should it be.
So now we have a chip in our computers that uniquely identifies them. So what? What does that change? Does anyone here think that Microsoft seriously wants to be the world police? Or that the government really wants to follow [i]everything[/i] you do online? They have neither the time nor the resources.
The way this is explained to me, it looks as if every file created gets a number, not just a file from Microsoft Word, but Open Office as well, because it still creates a new file on the hard drive, which Windows sees.
The only way I see around it is Hardmodding...which well...if that is what it takes, so beit.
And frankly, I don't even really care about losing Warez/Music downloads, I really don't. What I DO mind is an invasion of privacy. In a matter of minutes someone will come on and say "Well, if you are not doing anything wrong..."
THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT.
"Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
OK, what this software/hardware does is allow ANYONE with authorization direct access to our doings WITHOUT warrent, WITHOUT probable cause.
Perhaps not to view the content directly, but it is nontheless an "unreasonable search" of what we are doing. We are presumed guilty, and therefor suspect, the moment we walk out of the store with a DVD, Game, Computer, or any other electronic device that carries this chip.
[B]sometimes...I get confused with having two Vert's running around. :D[/B][/QUOTE]
Actually, we only have one, now. It's been that way for at least a year and a half.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Vertigo_1 [/i]
[B]Hmm, who gave the slashdot hippies control of Wikipedia?[/b][/quote]
Conversational terrorism!
[quote][b]Now, the interesting thing is that HD-DVD legally allows for ripping of DVDs. That's right, I said legal, since DVD Decrypter and other like tools are illegal for circumventing the DMCA. What HD-DVD gives you is the chance to rip a DVD to your computer, but that file is tied just to your computer thanks to the TPM chip. So it's useful as an archive or a backup, but you can't go and share it online.[/b][/quote]
Nor can you do things like re-encode your movies in a smaller format so you can copy them to your PSP or iPod and watch them on the go (you're supposed to buy another, separate copy for just about every device you want to watch it on), or use footage cut from them for such things as parodies, something fair use laws in most western countries say you should be able to do but the DMCA makes illegal because you're not legally allowed to get around. The DMCA also makes it illegal to copy music bought from iTunes to an MP3 player that doesnt support the Fairplay by ripping out the Fairplay stuff and reencoding to MP3, or doing the same with a WMA file, because, while you're not pirating it, you're circumventing the protection systems.
Sure, the DMCA is [i]supposed[/i] to be targetted at piracy. But it's not, nor does it solve piracy. The ideas behind TCA are the same, but extend much further. One of the concerns with early versions of the TCA proposal was that only code signed by the TCA group would be allowed to run on computers (because that way it's secure since virus writers won't get signatures, right?). But all of a sudden you can only run code written by people who have enough money to buy a signature from the TCA group, and can protect that signature. That would have been bye-bye to open sourcesoftware, as by giving away the source code would mean not protecting the signature. While this is not the case any longer (as far as I'm aware), it shows just how dangerous rolling over and saying "Sure, lock down the computer and media that I bought, control what I'm allowed to do with what I bought. It doesn't conflict with anything I want to do right now."
Fortunately, most of TCA has been dropped from Vista and doesn't look likely to end up in mainstream computers any time soon. But give the RIAA, the MPAA and similar organisations all over the world even a smidgen of a chance and our culture will be locked down tighter than anyone would think possible. It's also worth noting that TCA is not all bad. Some of the ideas in it do allow for increased security in computing. The trick is making sure it's used for increasing security, not removing the ability to do what you want with your computer and software and media within the realms of sensible copyright laws.
There is a very well written opinion piece in the June issue of [i]IEEE Spectrum[/i] that deals with many of these issues, along with a good counterpoint from the MPAA. I recommend everyone reads both.
[url=http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jun06/3673]Death by DMCA[/url]