Breaking News -
Security:
Gates Quells Fears Over
Security
End-users shouldn't be worried that Microsoft Corp.'s new security
technology
will wrest control of their PCs and give it to media companies, Bill Gates
said this week. They can always choose not to use it, he said.
The Microsoft co-founder expects consumers as well as governments and
businesses to embrace the system, which hard-wires security into silicon chips
rather than just software. It's designed to offer unprecedented levels of
protection against hacking and eavesdropping.
"This is a mechanism that if people want to use, for example, to protect
medical records, they can use it," Gates said in an interview with The
Associated Press. "It's a lot of work to do this stuff, and we think consumers
will want those privacy guarantees. If they don't want them, then fine, ask me
about our other work."
Gates spoke about the technology, known officially as the "Next Generation
Secure Computing Base," at the 12th annual Windows Hardware Engineering
Conference, where developers were getting their first look at it.
The technology is a key element of the software giant's effort to create a
more secure computing environment, which would be a tremendous boon, Gates
said.
Pros And Cons Mulled
The creators of top-secret government documents, financial records or other
sensitive material could assign rights to sensitive files, allowing them to be
viewed only on trusted computers running the system. Anyone else -- hackers
included -- would be locked out.
The same platform could be employed by content creators -- who include
software makers like Microsoft. They could severely limit how materials are
copied or even how long they last.
Gates said the format of digital content is up to their creators, and
Microsoft is only providing a platform on which record labels and movie
studios -- as well as others -- can build. He said it's in the content
provider's interest to use simple copy protection schemes.
"What you are seeing now is recognition they need to provide their content
in
easily accessible forms or else it ends up encouraging piracy," Gates told the
AP.
He said Microsoft is not working in a vacuum on the project. It requires
broad
industry support to ensure secure channels across the computer.
The technology, formerly code-named Palladium, will create what amounts to
a
secure computer within a computer. Certain areas of memory, the processor and
even the channels to the display, keyboard and networks are locked down and
accessible only by trusted software.
Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and others are working on the
hardware aspects, which are required before Microsoft can implement it into
its operating systems.
Will Others In Industry Follow?
"This won't happen without Intel and AMD deciding both on the processor
chip
and the system design they'll build these things in," Gates said. "And there's
even some work that needs to go in the video display and keyboard."
Users can opt to "turn off" the system when it becomes available, most
likely
in the next generation of Windows expected in 2004 or 2005. But doing so might
well severely hamper consumers' access to digital information that's important
to them -- and which may indeed be necessary in their work environment.
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