TCPA, NGSCB, DRM, PALLADIUM: Your FREEDOM Is Really On The Line!
If Microsoft has their way, Big Brother won't just be tracking and watching your computer use- it will be inside it! That's right-inside YOUR personal computer, with the power to override, track and delete anything it wants.
What is this about?
DRM: (Digital "Rights" Management) is the political, legal, contractual economic hardware and software infrastructure that is designed and intended by a loose alliance of cartels and monopolies to REMOVE your right to own and privately use a computer.
While not yet fully implemented, pieces of DRM have successfully been enacted into law, and DRM hardware and software have already been implemented in some home movie playing and recording devices.
INTEL, Microsoft, the RIAA and the MPAA on a mission to force DRM into every computer in existence.
PALLADIUM: What is it and HOW can it possibly work?
Palladium is both hardware and software.The software is locked to to the hardware, using a secret encrypted code that the home user cannot see modify or control. Palladium was invented by Microsoft and is controlled by them at all times, no matter what they might call it today. Every file on your system can be examined, AND if deemed "unacceptable", deleted.This encrypted (as in: hidden from you) mechanism can even disable your entire system, should it deem you have committed such a heinous act as defined by their punishment category.
With Palladium installed and functioning, every time you boot up your computer, the "Fritz" chip will "speak" to all of your hardware and software applications and check your serial numbers, licenses, permissions and determine if they are, among other things, legally yours to have, use and operate. (Thank the Congressman, Fritz Hollings, of South Carolina, who is responsible for pushing his (often renamed) Act to Congress, hence the honor of having the chip named after him.)
Palladium also has the full support of the U.S. Government.
The Digital Millennium Act has provided that:
- It is illegal to see what Palladium is doing.
- It is illegal to modify the system hardware that is equipped with Palladium.
- It is a felony to sell advice on disabling Palladium or it's support hardware.
Action MUST be taken NOW! Boycott the enabling hardware.
TPM: Trusted Platform Module will support Palladium and other systems such as large corporations and those of the government.
TCPA: Trusted Computing Platform Alliance is the "standards organization" for TPM.
The founding members of Palladium are COMPAQ, HP, IBM, INTEL and Microsoft. Hundreds more have joined since their start in 1999. Add numerous music/recording affiliated groups as their newest members.
TCPA:FAQ site at:http://www.trustedcomputing.org/ is a Microsoft-sponsored site, where the goal is to "ensure the owner that they will ultimately retain control over their computer." NOT!
This is just NOT TRUE!
Refuse to buy any computer with a TPM inside. This includes "TPM-like" devices in a chip, BIOS chip and CPU's. People need to ASK!
BOYCOTT American Megatrends AMIBIOS
BOYCOTT Transmeta TM5800 CPU's
TCPA provides a computing platform which will not allow you to tamper with applications. The applications communicate securely with the vendor, always Microsoft, plus whomever else they deign to add to their cartel.
There are many ways to implement these platforms that can be used to benefit things like Digital Rights Management- (i.e.) you can BUY music, but not SWAP it, or you cannot copy the CD you just bought, etc.
More Info and Reading:
Microsoft unveils "CD Copy Protection"
http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/10/21/1449250.shtml?id=19
http://www.panix.com/~jays/what.is.drm.3
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/14/1719220&mode=thread&tid=16
Don't let the continuous name changes fool you- Palladium, NGSCB, and others all spell the same thing: BIG BROTHER IS HERE- and is spending a LOT of money to make sure he can get in YOUR computer, and from there consider it to be a pipeline to everything else you own!
This is only the beginning of a new meaning to the word, "privacy". Unless people take a stand here and now, it will continue unchecked and invading. Watch for a lot more to come.....
New Words and Acronyms for Your Vocabulary:
- NGSCB: Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (one of many "names" for Palladium).
- SSSCA: Security System Standards and Certification Act (the original name of Fritz's Bill before Congress
- CBDTTA: Consolidated Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (the most recent name Congress is using for the same Bill)
- Secure Support Component: Another psuedo fake-out name for the Fritz chip, which is designed to make you think all is well and safe, because Microsoft is in charge (so what if it is your property?)
Just for the record (maybe I should say, recording? ) let me state emphatically that as a writer and a photographer I am 100% against anyone who steals content, be it a photo, recording, prose, whatever. It is TOTALLY wrong. It is cheating and it is theft.
But is it right to allow an outside party to regulate and dictate how you govern yourself? NO.
And the RIAA (Recording Industry Artists of America), the organization that has gouged the American public, as well as those who actually did/do the work to record the music we all love for years has jumped on the bandwagon, crying, "poor"! Listening to their whining is sickening.
The point here is that there are alternative options that are non-invasive and would be a satisfactory solution across the board- without government intervention, and spies in your personal property.
Part of what is being kept from the public in this entire spin is the fact that in order to comply with the defined acceptability we will be told when to "upgrade" and it will be forced upon us. While Microsoft promises "security", it is only on their terms, and by their definitions- in other words- they only protect themselves.
And- the BIG "AND"- none of this will provide any additional security- in fact, it provides a greater risk. If everyone is on the same "version page" and there is an attack by a virus or worm (and a much smaller field to choose from for those that perpetrate those sorts of things) everyone is at risk unless and until the powers that be direct us to a newer and better "upgrade" or patch to "protect" us poor saps. The damage will have already been done. Think about it.