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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Engel who wrote (46996)	1/22/1999 11:24:00 AM
From: Scumbria	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1571443

Paul, Intel is implementing this in HARDWARE because software security is not capable of the same degree of security. For example - Intel is using a RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR using the thermal noise from specific circuits on the chip. Software algorithms are restricted to PSEUDO RANDOM NUMBER generators - which can be successfully defeated. It is unlikely that anyone is going to unleash an array of supercomputers to break into the typical online shopping transaction. The cost/benefit ratio doesn't work. 99% of PC users do not need that level of security. Do you do a security investigation on every store clerk you hand your credit card to? Check out their phone lines for digital security? Make inquiries about the cleaning staff? Investigate the security of the bank they are dealing with? Online security issues for the average user can be handled in software at a much higher security level than the in-person transactions they are accustomed to. This issue is a non-starter for Intel. AMD 21 3/16 21 5/16 21 1/4 +1/4 INTC 130 130 1/16 130 1/8 -3 3/8 Scumbria

To: Paul Engel who wrote (46996)	1/22/1999 11:30:00 AM
From: Scumbria	Respond to of 1571443

Paul, Software algorithms are restricted to PSEUDO RANDOM NUMBER generators - which can be successfully defeated. Your comment brought back memories from my childhood of attending a talk by one of the great Polish mathematicians (I don't remember his name unfortunately.) The topic was random number generators, and the central theme was - It is impossible to build a random number generator, and even if you did, it would be impossible to prove that it was truly random. Scumbria

To: Paul Engel who wrote (46996)	1/22/1999 7:03:00 PM
From: Ronald Ashkenazy	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1571443

Paul and others on the thread, Paraphrasing, Bill Gates recently said : “Windows is very popular in China but no one pays for the software. That, however, is all going to change….” I don't pretend to understand how this all works. But besides the stated financial transaction and document security reasons for this Pentium III hardware encryption technology, isn't there also a "whisper” reason which is to somehow control all software piracy by preventing installation on any machine unless a license has been purchased? If so can you explain to us laymen how that might work? And if this indeed is possible, I wonder if this would result in a dramatic drop in software prices as a result of significant increased revenues from all the previous pirating users. Probably not, huh? Thanks in advance, Ron