Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 15:59:43 +0000 From: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> To: The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Intel PIII "Anti Piracy Feature"? Message-ID: <36EE7FEF.5B2D6587@uk.radan.com> References: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9903160854230.19918-100000@thelab.hub.org>
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The Hermit Hacker wrote: > > Haven't seen anyone mention anything about this...anyone know more? > > http://dragon.acadiau.ca/~034790g/newsletter.htm > I haven't read this particular article, but I do know that every PIII has a unique ID number burned into the chip. This gives each PC a unique identity. One proposed use for it is to avoid credit card fraud when buying on the 'net (your CC number must match the PIII ID, which I guess means you can only place orders from one PC :-/ ). Apparently civil rights types and other "concerned" people are up in arms over it, claiming it will allow Big Brother to watch what you do and where you go on the Internet. In response to this Intel say they will ship the chips with the feature turned off. Apparently it can be turned off by software, but only turned on again by power-cycling the chip. I find this hilarious. These "experts" jumping up and down about it like it is new technology. They obviously don't know that proprietry Unix boxes have had this for years. On any Sun, type ``hostid'' at the prompt and it'll return a 32-bit hex number. The company I work for uses this (on Suns) to run the licencing for our software. On PC's we need to use a dongle. > Marc G. Fournier ICQ#7615664 IRC Nick: Scrappy > Systems Administrator @ hub.org > primary: scrappy@hub.org secondary: scrappy@{freebsd|postgresql}.org > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message -- FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov _______________________________________________________________ Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry mailto:marko@uk.radan.com http://www.radan.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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