The EFF presents two pieces discussing trusted computing, an idea which is largely unfamiliar to me.
Fred Von Lohmann: Meditations on Trusted Computing
In 1641, in his Meditations on First Philosophy, mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes asked how it is that we can trust our senses. What if, he asked, everything we experience is actually part of a delusion created by an omnipotent demon bent on deceiving us?
It turns out that a similar question has been weighing on the minds of Microsoft, Intel, and a number of other computer companies. How do you know that your computer is actually what it seems? After all, hackers could have broken into your computer and replaced the software on it with software that imitates, in every particular, the software that was on your computer before. To you, things would appear unchanged.
Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk
A straightforward change to the plans of trusted computing vendors could leave the security benefits intact while ensuring that a PC owner’s will always trumps the wishes of those who’ve loaded software or data onto the PC.
