Originally posted by: minofifa
i live pretty close to blackcomb.... that is kind of neat.
As far as that palladium goes, i don't like the sound of it one ibt. not that i have massive amounts of illegal material on my computer (which i really don't) but i think other people will have too much control over what we use our computers for. Maybe in some situations it would be a good idea but i hope we have a choice.
There are some possitive uses for it. For instance it potentially makes having secure corrispondance over the internet a bit easier. Companies will be able to use it for a little bit extra protection for sensitive documents.
But, ya, mostly trusted computing is about control. Big media enterprises tend to be very anal. For instance music stations are given playlists that they have to use, they use different mixes for different stations. Like on a "alternative" music channel will have a the same song as a "easy rock" station, but they will use a different mix to suite the audiances and such. Everything is about marketting and control.
They know that there is a lot of money aviable in using the internet and electronic media to distribute and sell works, however they want to have the nearly free access to consumers (in comparision to outlet malls, for instance) AND they want the control, which is something nobody has over the internet. So they figure if they control the hardware and the software on your computer, then that's good enough.
Also there are other aspects. For instance in many countries excersize large amounts of control over internet access. It's popular in middle eastern countries to offer relatively cheap internet access, but monitor activity and censor out 'bad' websites. In china every internet connection in and out of the country is controlled and monitored. Breaking rules and circumventing controls that block websites is a very serious crime. DRM/Trusted computing will help keep the governments in control of the information. Even in the EU they want to institute controls to block things like "hate speech" and stuff. I guess the internet is just a bit too free.
But here in the US and many other countries, its just about money and direct marketing scemes. They want your computer to be just like a TV + video game console. You select the items you want to watch, listen to, and play, and that way they can turn around and use that information to target to you customized marketting and get you to buy more stuff. It's similar to the reason why you have supermarkets giving out those discount scan cards... It's to compile information on buying habits and such.
Also once you buy into a product, like a Itunes for instance, you have to use the programs and devices that they allow you to use to enjoy your digital media. It's a bit of a lock-down.
Say you use Office to write a bunch of articles and they are made automaticly with DRM protections... You would have to use Office again to view them, or another aproved and licensed veiwer. If you record a song with a player that uses a certain type of digital protection and share it with friends they have to use similar software or devices to play it.
For instance I made the mistake of buying a 'ebook' type thing, but it was a audio book. My mistake was that it had digital protection on it and it required me to be using Microsoft Windows in order to listen to it.
Well I don't have microsoft Windows and I don't have MS media player. So I go to their website and buried was the disclaimer that it wouldn't work on Linux OSes and they had no desire or plans to make it so that it would work. So I was SOL. I am not going to go out and buy a 200 dollar OS to listen to a 10 dollar book. Pissed me off pretty well.
Similar thing with the DVDs. Most DVDs are region encoded and are encrypted. One kid in Sweden or Norway or something wrote a decrypter so that we could watch DVDs in Linux. He was arrested for it, of course. Luckly he won, he was able to 'prove' his innocence... However because of stuff like DMCA I am technically breaking the law every time I want to watch a movie now in the US, even one that I own.
People have actually gone to court about this.. Judges ruled basicly since it was so well known how to break the DVD encryption, it's not even worth enforcing.. however it didn't mean that it was OK. It's still illegal to go around breaking protected media, and it's still illegal to distribute programs to do it, or even explain teach someone how to do it.
Technically that is. There is still sanity, but if this sort of thing becomes realy accepted then there is no legal way around it.
It's not all doom and gloom, though. pluses and minusses to everything, and their is only a certain amount of control most poeple will subject themselves. Mostly it's the inconvencies that are the most annoying, but thats not all people care about... at least I hope so.
If your curious there is more (and much more accurate ) information at
EFF.org. I am working off of memory and half-remembered things, so what I say is probably fairly innaccurate in a few respects.