Intel to Build DRM into Next-Generation CPUs

mdecerbo writes "The Boston Globe is reporting that next year's Intel processors will include hardware support for Microsoft's "Palladium" DRM system. There are chilling privacy implications. AMD, here I come."

Who cares?

[stevew]

Look folks - if you are reading Slashdot, then the odds are REALLY good that you run an alternate OS like Linux. Did you note it's a MS DRM technology??? That means poor folks running MS code will be subject to it - not people intelligently choosing to run Linux, etc. ;-)

MS users - have a nice day - if you can!

Everyone Should Read This

[futuresheep]

This is the most comprehensive read on Palladium available. Forward it to family and friends.

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html

Re:Mod up!

[Dalcius]

Just like if we don't buy Windows, nobody will use it, right? Microsoft will just go out of business?

That's why they run ~95% of the desktop market.

Look around! That libertarian "vote with your money" argument doesn't work often in the real world, simply because most folks are not intellectuals. Most folks don't care.

good article at the register

[tylerdave]

The Register has a report about this w/ some good insights:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/3/27047.html [theregister.co.uk]

Re:Does this really matter?

[bfields]

I mean if you do not plan to run Palladium, where's the problem? This would not stop you from doing anything you do now.

Currently, you can play DVD's on linux with a minimum of hassle, and you can do perfectly normal and legitimate things with them like make backups, copy and manipulate screen shots, etc. After the adoption of Palladium, DVD's (or their successors) could be designed to play only on trusted players that don't allow you to do these things, and circumventing these restrictions will require hardware modifications.

Do you see a problem now?

--Bruce F.

Comprehensive Details about Palladium

[Carnage4Life]

That article was mostly speculation short on technical details but long on Micro$oft bashing.

Being a geek I got more mileage out of reading the technical details on palladium by a member of the EFF (Seth Schoen) who was at a presentation [loyalty.org] and TCPA and Palladium: Sony Inside [kuro5hin.org] an article on kuro5hin by a former Microserf.


Disclaimer:The opinions expressed in this post are mine and do not reflect the opinions, thoughts, strategies or plans of my employer.

Re:the same issue came up with the pIII

[jsse]

It's called Pentium III serial number, a permanent, unique, 96-bit serial number. This number can identify your machine not only to vendors, but also to remote Web hosts.

Intel initally insisted that since all models where shipped with this functionality disabled, there was no privacy threat. In fact, Intel contended that only users could reactivate it, and therefore only users who wanted to be tracked would be exposed.

This was untrue. [heise.de]

This time, howover, Intel is not alone.... :(

Re:redhat and AMD.

[n3k5]

firstly, your OS doesn't have to support DRM in order to run on a DRM chip. if it doesn't, it's just untrusted and totally unable to play any protected media etc. (until someone cracks the protecten, which should happen much faster than microsoft/intel think.)

secondly, DRM doesn't imply closed source, and open source doesn't imply "without DRM". it would be perfectly possible to release an OS with a media player under a open source licence and just keep some cryptographic keys secret, without breaching the protection of "secure" content.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Slowdown of processors.

[pdiaz]

Wrong. Very wrong, in fact.

You can divide CPUs
in two groups: the "wired ones" (only "hardware")
and the microprogrammed ones (IIRC the first
CPU of this kind was some IBM mainframe - 360
maybe??).

Wired ones rely the implementation of all the
intruction set on hardware gates (ORs, ANDs, XORs,
etc) while microprogrammed ones rely on a
control memory which contains the microcode
that actually implements the instruction set. Each
microinstruction basically controls all the
signals in charge of the CPU (register bank
selection, multiplexers of the CPU operands,
main memory R/W, etc...).

I wont go in further details, because you
can read all of this things (and more) on almost any
computer architecture book (Hennessy & Paterson
Computer Architecture series is an excellent
start point). Go learn