Trusted Computing

So, this trusted computing crap. It puts a little PKI system into the hardware of every computer. The chip builds keys, authenticates keys, and such on chip. The most secure keys never leave the chip, and its memory is secure and encrypted, so no program can get at it. At first this seems like it might be good. We all like the PKI system, it's great. It gives us SSL and GPG and the like. I like those things. Make no mistake about it, this is not friendly for those of us who like computer security!!!

First off, it puts control of those function on-the-chip, in hardware, in such a way that you cannot alter them without losing all functionality it provides. Think of it as your key generator being on-chip. That's what it is. But it's more than that, as one of the critical keys is known by the manufacturer and the chip only, not by you. It can be used to identify your machine no matter what.

This means that security related things can be handed off to this hardware function, meaning you don't need encryption software. Apple might call such a thing CoreEncryption or CoreSecurity. It can be billed as a time-saving feature, especially if it's cross-platform. Then commerce and, banking sites will come to require such things 'for your own protection from evil identity theft'. Soon the government will pass legislation requiring the same thing of ALL vendors 'for your protection' and 'stop terrorism'.

Now step back and see what has been created. There is a separate, top-down controlled, quite possibly government back-doored -- think I'm being paranoid, think of the newest revelation that the printer manufacturers have been embedding secret codes in your printouts that the government uses to track the author of documents -- encryption system that can handle all the problems that big-business and government have an interest in letting you solve. They control the whole thing. Now all they do is make software encryption, or anything BUT this trusted computing, illegal. Boom, one-fell swoop, it's all over. That's the end.

Mark my words, this is how it'll happen. The government doesn't want us to have encryption, but they can't do anything about it now because we use it for banking and commerce and the economy depends on it. With this system they get their back-door -- possibly without our knowledge like with the printers -- stupid consumers don't know the difference, and the big-businesses that implement it get some really useful cartel powers and lock-in tools.