[FYI] [depesche@quintessenz.at: Adieu Privacy: Intel identifiziert Chips]

[mel@burn.muc.de]

"May you live in interesting times"

Mel

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Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 12:37:28 +0100
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Subject: Adieu Privacy: Intel identifiziert Chips
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X-ListMember: mel@muc.de [quintessenz-list@quintessenz.at]

q/depesche  99.1.21/1

Adieu Privacy: Intel identifiziert Chips

Heute, Donnerstag, soll Intel mit Plänen an die Öffentlichkeit 
gehen, alle Prozessoren mit in die Hardware eingebauten 
Identifikationscodes serienmässig auszuliefern. Dass dies 
dem letzten Rest von Privatsphäre den Todesstoss versetzen 
könnte, hat EFF's Barry Steinhardt einem ZDnet Reporter 
erklärt.

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Robert Lemos
January 20, 1999 11:42 AM PT Intel Corp. will unveil plans to 
embed identification numbers in its PC processors on 
Thursday, said industry insiders and cryptographers familiar 
with the company's efforts.
In doing so, the Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker could be 
sounding the death knell for anonymity on the Internet. 
....
"On the one hand it offers more security -- for e-commerce 
and information security," said Barry Steinhardt, associate 
director and privacy expert at the American Civil Liberties 
Union,  "As a pure privacy issue, it allows for a means of 
tracking individuals on the Net."
....
The plan calls for Intel to put a machine-specific ID and a 
random number generator in every processor, said sources 
familiar with the plans.

The random-number generator will aid e-commerce by 
allowing PCs to encrypt data more securely, while the ID 
numbers will allow merchants to verify a user's identity and 
prevent stolen PCs from getting on the Internet. 
...
For those users who want to remain private, Intel will provide 
a software patch to turn off the function. This sort of scheme --
 which is referred to as "opt out" because consumers have to 
opt out of participating -- mimics the current state of the 
industry.
...
"Intel says they're not keeping a database matching users to 
their ID numbers," said Steinhardt, "but the temptation down 
the road for someone to keep a database will, most likely, be 
too great. It will happen."
....
Full Story
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2189721,00.html

relayed by
max.scheugl@orf.at
m.grinner@mail.gis.at

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