Ever since the Trusted Computing Group went public about its plan
to put a security chip inside every PC, its members have been denying
accusations
that the group is really a thinly-disguised conspiracy to embed DRM
everywhere. IBM and Microsoft have instead stressed genuinely useful
applications, like signing programs to be certain they don't
contain a rootkit. But at this week's RSA show, Lenovo showed
off a system that does use the chips for DRM after all.
The system is particularly frightening because it looks so simple.
There's no 20-digit software key to type in, no dongle to
attach to the printer port, no XP-style activation. (Is this what
Bill Gates was thinking of when he said
in his keynote that security needs to be easier to use?) The user
interface is just a Thinkpad, albeit one of the new models with an
integrated fingerprint sensor.
When someone tries to open a DRM-restricted document (in this
case, a PDF file: break that DRM and go
to jail), Lenovo software asks the user to swipe a finger across
the sensor. My finger results in an access denied message; the Lenovo
security guy's finger opens the document.
If you've ever had a laptop stolen, this might sound useful.
It is. In fact, encrypting
hard disks or individual files is the main use that most vendors
are promoting for the chip. Thinkpads have been able to do that since
their IBM days, and now most other laptops can too. You can probably
try it out by downloading software from your laptop manufacturer's
site, and Microsoft is building similar functionality into Vista as
Palladium NGSCB Secure Startup BitLocker.
The fingerprint sensor is also a good thing, if it's just
used for encryption. It's even good
for privacy: It means that network servers can authenticate you
based on your fingerprint, without sending any fingerprint data over
the network. (How? You authenticate
to the chip in your laptop with your fingerprint, then the chip
authenticates to the server with a digital certificate.)
But DRM goes beyond encryption. In the system that Lenovo
demonstrated, the decision about who can do what with the file is
made by whoever generates the PDF, not by the person or
organization that owns the laptop. According to Lenovo, the system is
also aimed at tracking who reads a document and when, because the
chip can report back every access attempt. If you access the file,
your fingerprint is recorded.
12:50:13 AM  PermaLink /
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