Story: Microsoft's Machiavellian manoeuvring

Posted by: Robbie Hatley (Thursday 1 September 2005, 4:58 PM)

Bruce Schneier writes of the "Trusted Computing Group and their "Trusted Platform Module": "The basic idea is that you build a computer from the ground up securely, with a core hardware 'root of trust' called a 'Trusted Platform Module'. Applications can run securely... and be sure that no untrusted applications have access to their data or code. This sounds great, but..."

Well, no, it does NOT sound great. It sounds terrible. Asside from the obvious issues of opportunity for abuse (use for censorship), how does one know 100% that the programs that are "trusted" are really secure? There will ALWAYS be bugs and security loopholes in even the most "trusted" programs. "Trust" is not a technological attribute a program or machine can have; it is a human emotion, and a very dangerous one. In the end, the only way to achieve security is through eternal human vigilence, not through "trust".