Pentium III...
Brad Aisa
>
> Intel has announced that the Pentium III will have a built in hardware
> random number generator, and individual serial number on each chip.
I don't quite understand how a unique serial number in the chip is
supposed to be helpful for anything cryptographic.
...and if the chip dies?
...and if you switch between computers?
__
Brad Aisa
Trevor Jackson, III
burt
Brad Aisa wrote in message <36A6A172...@istar.ca>...
Daniel James
> Read the fine print. The purpose is to *identify* the user, not assist him.
>
The serial number in the chip is to help control the trade in stolen CPUs,
which is a big moneyspinner in certain parts of the criminal world.
Cheers,
Daniel James
Daniel at sonadata.demon.co.uk
jsa...@ecn.ab.ca
: The serial number in the chip is to help control the trade in stolen CPUs,
I hadn't thought of that, but you are correct.
Also, as the serial number will identify the type of the chip - and its
rated clock speed - that should help combat *fraudulent* overclocking in a
way that does not require Intel to design the chips to prevent
overclocking by the individual user.
However, a serial number accessible to software will be used by some
software packages for software piracy prevention: it will not be suitable
for most mass-market software, but there are packages to which that sort
of thing is applicable.
John Savard
R. Knauer
<inte...@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>The serial number in the chip is to help control the trade in stolen CPUs,
>which is a big moneyspinner in certain parts of the criminal world.
Once again the law-abiding citizen has to pay the price for the
ineptness of law enforcement.
Bob Knauer
"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from
falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the
government from falling into error."
--Justice Robert H. Jackson
William Hugh Murray
over it. Still, it must be a terrible temptation to governments.
Darren New
> >which is a big moneyspinner in certain parts of the criminal world.
>
> Once again the law-abiding citizen has to pay the price for the
> ineptness of law enforcement.
I find this amusing, coming from the newsgroup with likely the most
vocal opponents to key escrow. :-)
Anyway, who would be checking for whether the CPUs are stolen? Will
Intel refuse to sell you chips unless you promise to check that every
chip you buy is not on the hotlist? And require you to sign same with
all the people you redistribute to? If I wind up with a stolen chip in
my machine, can it be confiscated as stolen property? Sheesh.
--
Darren New / Senior Software Architect / MessageMedia, Inc.
San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand.
"You could even do it in C++, though that should only be done
by folks who think that self-flagellation is for the effete."
Gurripato (x=nospam)
wrote:
>> >The serial number in the chip is to help control the trade in stolen CPUs,
>> >which is a big moneyspinner in certain parts of the criminal world.
And, naturally, the desire from the FBI,CIA,NSA ...... (your
favorite 3-letter agency goes here) to control people愀 actions and
movements, regardless of whether you belong to the bad guys or not, has
NOTHING to do with it.
>> Once again the law-abiding citizen has to pay the price for the
>> ineptness of law enforcement.
I would rather say data-greed. They are far from inept.
Daniel James
> Anyway, who would be checking for whether the CPUs are stolen?
>
The point is that every CPU made will have a unique identifier that
cannot be file off, painted over or otherwise rendered illegible
without destroying the CPU. This will be useful, for example, when the
police find a A.Felon Esq. in posession of a shedful of used CPUs; it
will be possible to verify that they were stolen and from whom.
fungus
Daniel James wrote:
>
> This will be useful, for example, when the
> police find a A.Felon Esq. in posession of a shedful of used CPUs; it
> will be possible to verify that they were stolen and from whom.
>
...except that the numbers will follow no pattern, and Intel
won't be keeping records of which chips have which numbers
(or so they say).
A distributor could, in theory, take every single chip out of the
box and record all the serial numbers before he puts them in a truck
for transportation. I personally don't think this is very likely....
--
<\___/>
/ O O \
\_____/ FTB.
Brad Templeton
They won't record what individual has what serial number, but you can
bet they will record what distributors and PC vendors have what serial
numbers.
They will expect people building PCs to probably run a little program
that reads the SN, and checks a database to see if the chip is stolen.
Any legit builder of PCs buying chips from a 3rd party may take a random
sample and test it before paying.
Intel could also put up a web site where customers could check if their
chip is stolen, with the provision that if it is, Intel will give them
the chip (ie. make it un-stolen) so long as they say who they bought it
from. Plus perhaps some other reward.
--
Brad Templeton http://www.templetons.com/brad/