Re: How come DRM would provide anything?

[Bas Wijnen]

Hi,

On Mon, Dec 05, 2005 at 03:16:28PM +0100, Pierre THIERRY wrote:
> But as we talk about what TC could add in the field of privacy to Hurd
> or any other system, did we just forget that TC chips are black boxes?
> How could we use TC chips to achieve privacy and security in any way
> although we have no clue about what is in the inside?

As far as I know we do know exactly what's inside them (well, at least what
interface they provide on their pins).  Not me personally, but I think the
chips are very well described in their data sheets (which I didn't read).

The idea of the chips is to provide an encrypted channel from the outside
world to a verified program (that is, the outside party can verify that he
knows what program is accepting the data).  In order to do this, I guess the
first part of the BIOS must be unflashable, and the boot loader and core of
the OS must be designed in a way which allows this.  There is no secrecy
around all this, only encryption.  Just because the chip doesn't tell you the
private key it uses doesn't mean "we have no clue what's inside".

Note that all this is just my impression, and since I haven't really followed
any news about the chips, it may very well be wrong.

Thanks,
Bas

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