Can I trust my computer?

[commodore]

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html

I just read this. I never knew about it before. Why isn't anyone talking about it? It's doom to computing IMO. When will this thing start to work? Why are IBM and HP also doing it? I thought they were normal.

[GeneralZod]

It's been brought up many times. The reason HP and IBM are doing it is because, to a certain extent, it's a very good feature for businesses, especially from the point of view of security and DRM (e.g. ensuring company secrets stay secret). I personally don't think it has any place in the home user's desktop, however, and that the hardware should only be added when the purchaser explicitly requests it. If it became widespread on the desktops of home users, I'd say that the potential for misuse far, far outweighs any dubious security benefits.

Back when I used to post on slashdot, I'd always anonymously post this (http://etotheipiplusone.com/TrustedComputing_1.html) in an attempt to bring people up to speed about the true benefits and dangers that surround this technology. It's a little on the tinfoil-y side, but that's mainly because I do view this as a danger and would like to make people sit up and take notice. I find the link "Alsee's post" to be a very interesting one.