Fedora reexamines "trusted boot"

Posted Jun 30, 2011 16:33 UTC (Thu) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266)
In reply to: Fedora reexamines "trusted boot" by brendan_wright
Parent article: Fedora reexamines "trusted boot"

> I'm always suprised at the negative reactions Trusted Computing gets. It's an optional feature! If you don't like it, don't turn it on!

If "Trusted Computing" gets traction, how long before it is no longer optional?

How long before you need it enabled to watch movies on your computer?

How long before you need it enabled to visit some websites?

How long before you need it enabled to read documents people send to you?

How long before you need it enabled to connect to the Internet at all?

Finally, how long before you no longer have a choice, and only "trusted" operating systems are allowed to run?

That is why "Trusted Computing" causes strong negative reactions. The potential for its abuse is tremendous.

Fedora reexamines "trusted boot"

Posted Jul 3, 2011 11:14 UTC (Sun) by brendan_wright (guest, #7376) [Link] (1 responses)

> If "Trusted Computing" gets traction, how long before it is no longer optional? How long before you need it enabled to watch movies on your computer?

It can attest to changes in the code run on the device, potentially preventing "secret" modification to that code.

But devices with practically unmodifiable boot code (at least for the average Joe) have been sold for decades (and I still had a lot of fun with our C64). And it didn't mean that customizable & modifiable systems became a thing of the past. There will no doubt always be a market for them, so someone will always make them.

But what about the potential for trusted computing to reduce the amount of loss of private data that goes on? Where's the knee-jerk reaction from the masses demanding that organisations that store our private data can remotely attest to their system's security?

How many innocent Grandmas are really happy about the fact that their PC is actually controlled by a Russian crime syndicate and that all their "personal" data actually isn't?

Like most technology it can be used for both "good" and (for those that expect to be able to modify their systems without telling others) "evil" (in that it can prevent that).

Generally with such technology, although their may be some hiccups along the way, common sense generally prevails in the end. I like Google's use of "optional" trusted computing on Chrome OS - to me the it's the best of both worlds.

Fedora reexamines "trusted boot"

Posted Jul 3, 2011 18:37 UTC (Sun) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

The C64 was still fun despite its ROMs because you could tell them to get entirely out of the way, and they did. Modern OSes don't do that sort of thing.