TCPA? If you havent heard of it read on....

SouperComputer

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Here we will try to untangle the whole subject and concentrate us on the core points. Most it's impossible to understand the network of technologies, companies and laws at a whole.

The technology:

TCPA stands for Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. For the technology we will speak from TCP (The trusted computing platform). This plans that every computer will have a TPM (Trusted Platform Module), also known as Fritz-Chip, built-in. At later development stages, these functions will be directly included into CPUs, graphiccards, harddisks, soundcards, bios and so on. This will secure that the computer is in a TCPA-conform state and that he checks that it's always in this state. This means: On the first level comes the hardware, on the second comes TCPA and then comes the user. The complete communication works with a 2048 bit strong encryption, so it's also secure enough to make it impossible to decrypt this in realtime for a longer time. This secures that the TCPA can prevent any unwanted software and hardware. The long term result will be that it will be impossible to use hardware and software that's not approved by the TCPA. Presumably there will be high costs to get this certification and that these would be too much for little and mid-range companies. Therefore open-source and freeware would be condemned to die, because without such a certification the software will simply not work. In the long term only the big companies would survive and could control the market as they would like.
Some could think that it should be possible to get around this security. But probably they would be proved they're wrong. Until now there're no such hardware-implemented security systems and actual security systems have to work offline. This would be changed with TCP. The rights and licenses would be central managed by the TCPA (USA?). And as soon a violation is noticed, they will get notified. Read the chapter "The bills" to get an overview about the possible resulting consequences.

The companies:

The TCPA was founded 1999 by Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel and Micro$hit. But in the meantime around 200 companies joined them. You will find Adobe, AMD, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gateway, Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba and many other well known companies. IBM already sells first desktops and notebooks with integrated TPM.
The bills:
In the USA there's a planed bill, the so called CBDPTA (Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act). First it was callen SSSCA (Security Systems Standards and Certification Act). The new name reads much more harmless. Looks like the first name made it too easy to discover the purpose of this bill.
This bill plans to legally force secure (TCPA-conform) systems. So in the USA it would then not be allowed to buy or sell systems that are not TCPA-conform. Passing this law would be punished with up to 5 years of prision and up to $500.000 fine. The same would apply for development of "open" software. Open means that it would work on systems that're not TCPA-conform.
Even if this bill would only valid in the USA it would have catastrophically effects worldwide. Because US companies are not allowed to develop and sell "unsecure" software, others would have to jump onto the TCP-train, so they would give total control over themself to the TCPA (USA?), or they would have to live completely without software and harware from US-companies. No Windows, Solaris, MacOS, Photoshop, Winamp or to say it short: The largest part of all software that's used on this planet would not be usable.

The consequences:

Thus you're able to determine the consequences for your own situation, we kept this section very generell. But it should be easy to determine the resulting restrictions that would apply for you.
The informational self-determination isn't existing anymore, it's not possible to save, copy, create, program, ..., the data like you want. This applies for privates as for companies
The free access to the IT/Software market is completely prevented for anyone except the big companies, the market as we know it today will get completely destroyed
Restrictions in the usage of owned hardware would apply
The liberty of opinion and the free speech on the internet would finally be eliminated
The own rights while using IT-technologies are history.
The national self-determination of the der particular countries would be fully in the hands of the USA
Probably the world would break into two digital parts (Countries that express against TCPA)
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

http://www.againsttcpa.com





Gotta love cut n paste!

Kali

Hmm horribly one sided site that.

Theres a less biased FAQ at:
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
which I've read a number of times, and is more about explaining the technology and its potential uses than shock and paranoia... worth a read if you're actually interested.

leeroybrown

I agree, the second article was informative and balanced.

pickarooney

What components of the PC will contain the TCP business?
The CPU, the motherboard, or some new bits?

Felix Unger

Well this all sounds fairly nasty, as a fairly paranoid individual
I have no doubt that if they can do it they will do it once they
have this installed on a large user base.

But what can you do?

The AgainstTCPA site was fairly amateurish with the comments
provided by the people looking like a rant at the world and when
combined with a user name of "Solid_Snake" it's hardly going
to make the industries and governments of the world tremble.

Is there any decent sites where a difference can be made
against this steady incursion of big business into our
private lives?

Not only against this, but against the DMCA and it's european
counterpart that are attempting to lockout what any sane
person would call fair use (if I buy a DVD, I buy the content
of that DVD, not the plastic disc. If I want to backup that
content I should be able to. If I want to watch it in a different
country I should be able to etc.)


Would there be a demand for a bulletin board here for a
discussion of these topics? (I haven't searched around yet
so I'll probably find there's one here already)


Felix Unger

leeroybrown

What components of the PC will contain the TCP business?
The CPU, the motherboard, or some new bits?

Currently the initial plans are to have this "Fritz-Chip" on the motherboard where it will take over on boot and ensure that every aspect of the system is correct and secure. (Some recent IBM Thinkpads have chips of this type on their boards afaik)

The plan is to intergrate Fritz-Chip functionality into the CPU (specifically Intel) thus making the technology almost completely tamper proof.

SouperComputer

to be honest, it have'nt really read into it yet, but it seems nasty nonetheless

longword

It's not TCPA you should be afraid of. It's what Microsoft will do with it, that's the issue. Roll on Product Activation Mark II for a start. They'll be able to enforce their legally questionable bonding of a bought-and-paid-for OS/Application to the machine with which it was bought. Then there's what they can make Media Player do with it...

But you'll still be able to run Linux without restrictions, and Linux will benefit from the open and available fast cryptographic features on offer - faster IPSEC VPNs for example. Faster and more secure S/MIME and PGP operations (more secure because even you can't read your own private key). With any luck, TCPA could do for Microsoft what MCA did for IBM.

SouperComputer

With any luck, TCPA could do for Microsoft what MCA did for IBM.

^ i like the sound of this!!!

Kali

Currently the initial plans are to have this "Fritz-Chip" on the motherboard where it will take over on boot and ensure that every aspect of the system is correct and secure. (Some recent IBM Thinkpads have chips of this type on their boards afaik)

The plan is to intergrate Fritz-Chip functionality into the CPU (specifically Intel) thus making the technology almost completely tamper proof.

AMD are part of the TCPA as well. ..

In fact the basics of TCPA have already been tried and tested.. as well as your Thinkpad example, see the XBOXs "secured" bootstrap loader and Intels mid-90s foray into processor IDs (which quickly got brushed under the carpet).

pickarooney

Feck it, I'm just never buying a computer again, the one I have is grand, sure, it does me fine for what I use it for. 800MHz is enough for anyone, no?

Batfink

Sounds nasty, but if there is one thing I have learnt about computers in the number of years I've been using them is that there is always some way to get around things like this, might take a bit of time but I'm sure it won't be a major problem for the informed.

JohnK

I would be totaly against anything of this sort. My computer is my own and NOBODY but me should have the right to decide what I do with it.

p

Community » Activism » Privacy/Civil liberties

leeroybrown

Privacy and Civil Liberties would be the perfect place for this discussion.

800MHz is enough for anyone

Give it a couple more windows versions and 800 Mhz won't even boot it. Linux on the other hand ...