Ross TCPA paper

[Larry J. Blunk]

   For those who question the use of the TCPA spec as part of a DRM
system, I refer you to the following article where the author
interviewed Jim Ward of IBM (one of the authors of the TCPA spec) --

http://www.101com.com/solutions/security/article.asp?ArticleID=3266

   In particular, note the following text:

 "The TCPA specifications center on two main areas: trusted reporting and public key
  infrastructure (PKI). The TCPA reporting guidelines create profiles of a machine's
  security settings as the machine boots. Ward says content providers such as
  Bloomberg or Hoover's may take advantage of this feature to ensure users do not
  redistribute content."


  And then there is the DRMOS patent granted to Paul England, et al. of
Microsoft -- http://cryptome.org/ms-drm-os.htm.  Mr. England is also
one of the authors of the TCPA specification.  Note the section
describing the interaction of the DRMOS with the CPU and the
cryptographic/certificate requirements of the CPU.  This is precisely
how the TCPA spec works.  

  The TCPA website avoids mentioning the DRM applications of the spec
precisely because it is so controversial.  However, it's no big
secret that this is clearly one of the intended uses of the spec.


------
Larry J. Blunk
Merit Network, Inc.       Ann Arbor, Michigan

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