“Scythic” is the pseudonym of an uber tech guy whose hacking brought non-DRMed books to the Sony Librie–without breaking any laws.
I also applaud Scythic’s healthy concern about Big Brotherdom in the “Trusted Computing” vein. This guy has a bizarre belief that computer makers should not sneak in all kinds of limits on your machine and then not even let you know what’s happening–a real concern in the case of Intel’s new chip and forthcoming competition from AMD.
If you’re technically inclined and want some fascinating tidbits here, such as how bypassable might be the new Intel chip’s DRM, please read on for Scythic’s take on the chip’s security features. Look, the idea isn’t to pirate. Rather it’s to be free to engage in such activities as backups and me2me file-sharing.
I know its a bit late (~4 days) from when the article on the DRM in processors from intel (and soon from AMD)… figured I’d toss in my couple of cents.
I quickly skimmed the article/messages and didn’t see much in the way of actual information.
Anyway, my understanding is that what has been introduced is “virtualization technology” (sorry that I can only find a deeply technical link–search terms are “Vanderpool technology” or “virtualization extensions”).
AMD will introduce something almost identical, I can’t find the link to their documentation at the moment.
What these extensions do is to better “enable”virtualization of the processor (hardware assist for things like VMWARE). This appears to cater to the growing popularity of virtualized machines for hosting to defend against operating system security flaws.
Additionally, I believe that there is the plan to implement a firmware based “emulator” for some hardware — that will run underneath the operating sytem, handle network connectivity, and allow a machine to be accessed without booting the full operating system, or if the operating system is corrupted. This capability is typically provided through embedded devices at the moment – putting it into the processor saves part count.
Of course, virtualization has potential for DRM. For the moment, this virtualization is likely to be a bigger hit to DRM than a boost, though–accessible virtualization technology will enable software DRM schemes to be easily compromised.
Also DRM-related: BMG cracks piracy whip, from Wired News.
