Re: Trusted computing [WAS new user question: debian on a Thinkpad T61]

[Max Hyre <max@hyre.net>]

David Brodbeck wrote:

> I remember when Intel started shipping processors with 
unique ID
> numbers.  There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth as 
open-source
> proponents and privacy advocates declared that this would 
lead to the
> end of civilization as we know it.

   Yup, remember being twitchy about that.

>  In reality, it was a huge non-event;
> no software I know of uses it,

So nobody uses it,

> and every system I've ever seen has
> shipped with the processor ID disabled.

you've got to turn it on to use it,

>  Even companies that make
> corporate software, who tend to be more into copy 
protection than most,
> seem to have mostly ignored it

and it's ignored.

   It was a non-event because said weeping and gnashing led 
to it being unused, _not_ because its uses would be benign. 
 It's my pleasure to have helped prevent you from finding 
out just how bad those uses could be.  :-)