Say goodbye to internet anonymity

As the joke goes, on the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog. But although anonymity has been part of Internet culture since the first browser, it’s also a major obstacle to making the Web a safe place to conduct business: Internet fraud and identity theft cost consumers and merchants several billion dollars last year. And many of the other more troubling aspects of the Internet, from spam emails to sexual predators, also have their roots in the ease of masking one’s identity in the online world.

Change, however, is on the way. Already over 20 million PCs worldwide are equipped with a tiny security chip called the Trusted Platform Module, although it is as yet rarely activated. But once merchants and other online services begin to use it, the TPM will do something never before seen on the Internet: provide virtually fool-proof verification that you are who you say you are.

:angry: :angry: :angry:

Some critics say that the chip will change the free-wheeling Web into a police state, while others argue that it’s needed to create a safe public space. But the train has already left the station: by the end of this decade, a TPM will almost certainly be part of your desktop, laptop and even cell phone.

The TPM chip was created by a coalition of over one hundred hardware and software companies, led by AMD, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Sun. The chip permanently assigns a unique and permanent identifier to every computer before it leaves the factory and that identifier can’t subsequently be changed. It also checks the software running on the computer to make sure it hasn’t been altered to act malevolently when it connects to other machines: that it can, in short, be trusted. For now, TPM-equipped computers are primarily sold to big corporations for securing their networks, but starting next year TPMs will be installed in many consumer models as well.

With a TPM onboard, each time your computer starts, you prove your identity to the machine using something as simple as a PIN number or, preferably, a more secure system such as a fingerprint reader. Then if your bank has TPM software, when you log into their Web site, the bank’s site also “reads” the TPM chip in your computer to determine that it’s really you. Thus, even if someone steals your username and password, they won’t be able to get into your account unless they also use your computer and log in with your fingerprint. (In fact, with TPM, your bank wouldn’t even need to ask for your username and password — it would know you simply by the identification on your machine.)
The same would go for online merchants — once you’d registered yourself and your computer with an Amazon or an e-Bay, they’d simply look for the TPM on your machine to confirm it’s you at the other end. (Of course you could always “fool” the system by starting your computer with your unique PIN or fingerprint and then letting another person use it, but that’s a choice similar to giving someone else your credit card.)

Another plus for the TPM is that your computer will be able to make sure that it’s really a legitimate e-commerce site you’re connected to, and not some phishing-style fraud. There would still, of course, be ways that you could access your bank or e-commerce accounts from other computers when you were traveling, but the connection wouldn’t be as secure as using your own computer. Plans are already underway to put TPMs into smartphones and other portable devices as well.

The TPM will become even more important as we move toward Web-based applications, where we may actually store our documents and files on remote servers. The TPM could automatically encrypt any files as soon as they left your computer, and only allow decryption privileges to your TPM and any others you might specify. It could automatically encrypt email as well, so that only specific recipients are able to read it. And it could more firmly identify where email originates, taking a big step forward in controlling spam at the source.
That is the potential good news. But some critics are worried that the TPM is a step too far. Their concern particularly revolves around using the TPM to control “digital rights management” — that is, what you can and cannot do with the music, movies and software you run on your computer.

A movie, for example, would be able to look at the TPM and know whether it was legally licensed to run on that machine, whether it could be copied or sent to others, or whether it was supposed to self-destruct after three viewings. If you tried to do something with the movie that wasn’t allowed in the license, your computer simply wouldn’t cooperate.

:source: Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ID/10441443

lmao

and what if you build your computer? O.o

one thing i did notice thoug is that what if you want to sell it on ebay??

yay this will split the internet into the trusted platform and the evil platform.

i wonder if this will excluded linux and other operating systems from the network.

Oooh.
This spells the end for multi-user OSes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chewie UK

Oooh.
This spells the end for multi-user OSes.

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Provided they are smart about this, then wrong.
You could make the TPM recognise a number of users, not just you. Only thing that would be spelling the end of is fast user switching, as fingerprints would have to be read again.

Also, as for the movie/music problem: Whenever theres a new DRM protection scheme, there's at least 50 new crackers who are thanking whatever God they believe in, because the DRM inventors are giving them something to do with their spare time, or basically giving them free education.
As long as people like DVD-Jon (before he fell to the Dark Side, that is) exist out there, it will forever be a back-and-forth race. Im not too worried about the end of file sharing.

ive heard that linux is going to integrate this chip as well somehow

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 99shassan

But some critics are worried that the TPM is a step too far. Their concern particularly revolves around using the TPM to control “digital rights management” — that is, what you can and cannot do with the music, movies and software you run on your computer.

A movie, for example, would be able to look at the TPM and know whether it was legally licensed to run on that machine, whether it could be copied or sent to others, or whether it was supposed to self-destruct after three viewings. If you tried to do something with the movie that wasn’t allowed in the license, your computer simply wouldn’t cooperate.

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uh huh......now we're getting to the real reason behind this shit :P

If the internet backbone requires authentication then the 'evil internet' is going to be a sad, low powered place held together by hacks, cable modems and old computers.

Guys - saying this is the end of the internet is pretty melodramatic. There is always a way around stuff like this. OK - lets see a show of hands... how many of us out here are spoofing our IP? How many have a PS/2 mod chip? This is like the game between radar detector companies and the cops. Every time they find a new band for radar, the detectors figure out how to spot it and block it.

aren't nic cards already loaded with a unique identifier i.e. mac address? what about all those motherboards out there that have it preloaded? seems they could have been a lot sneakier about it if they wanted to...

well as far as i know, these things use 2048 bit encryption.......... not the kinda thing you can force right now.......... but in a couple of years or so........

im just gonna make sure i have my old untrusted pc till that time............

if i have a choice, im not switching to this type of platform...... no more programs from small companies/home made programs (the dont have the money to pay for the 10's/100's thousands of dollar costing certification, and without that, the program wont run on your pc

check http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html for more info on the downside of this........... scary ish huh?