[Clips] Apple adopts controversial security chip

R.A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Wed Aug 3 12:30:08 EDT 2005


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 Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 12:21:15 -0400
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 From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
 Subject: [Clips] Apple adopts controversial security chip
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 <http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2140687/apple-embraces-controversial>

 VNUNet


 Apple adopts controversial security chip

 Trusted Platform Module limits OS X to Macs, but could do more
  Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 03 Aug 2005

 Developer preview models of Apple's forthcoming Intel-powered
 computer contain a security chip that has come under fire for its ability
 to compromise the privacy of users.

 Apple recently started shipping Developer Transition Kits that help
 developers test and prepare software for the switch to the Intel-powered
 computers next year. The kit contains a version of OS X for Intel, and a
 Mac computer featuring an Intel processor.

 The computer features a security chip called the Trusted Platform Module
 (TPM), an open industry standard governed by the not-for-profit Trusted
 Computing Group which develops security standards.

 The chip's inclusion with the Apple hardware does not come as a complete
 surprise. It has been previously suggested that Apple could use the TPM to
 prevent computer users installing the OS X operating system on a non-Mac
 computer.

 "The TPM is going to be the barrier for moving the Mac software to any PC,"
 Martin Reynolds, a research fellow at analyst firm Gartner told vnunet.com.

 Each TPM chip contains an encrypted serial number that allows the operating
 system to verify whether it is running on Apple hardware.

 Hackers could in theory forge the serial number, according to Reynolds,
 fooling the software into believing that it is running on Mac hardware even
 when it is not.

 The security chips are currently included with some PCs for the enterprise
 market from IBM/Lenovo and HP. They use the TPM to security store passwords
 or encrypt data.

 The upcoming Windows Vista relies on the TPM for a technology dubbed Secure
 Startup, which blocks access to the computer if the content of the hard
 drive is compromised.

 This prevents a laptop thief from swapping out the hard drive, or booting
 the system from a floppy disk to circumvent security features.

 Reynolds suggested that in the future software developers could use the
 chip as an anti-piracy device. The vendor would link the TPM identification
 number to the software registration key.

 However, the TPM has also gained notoriety because it is seen as a way to
 invade user privacy. The identifying number built into the chip could be
 used to limit the fair use of digital media by enforcing digital rights
 management technologies, or to track users online.

 But Reynolds insisted that the fear of such scenarios is overstated, and
 that privacy-infringing schemes are uncovered sooner or later at great
 expense to the computer maker.

 "There are things that manufacturers could do with the TPM that are very
 much against the interests of the user. But, in practice, manufacturers
 have found that it is best not to do that," he said.

 Apple did not respond to questions about the TPM in time for this story's
 posting.

 --
 -----------------
 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
 "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
 [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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