Palladium Article @ CoHE

ToshiroOC · Feb 18, 2003, 05:13 AM

Computing experts in academe often blame Microsoft for producing software that is vulnerable to viruses and hackers. But, of late, the experts have been criticizing the company's sweeping plan to correct those very deficiencies.

Under the plan, announced seven months ago under the name Palladium, new computers would be equipped with security hardware and a new version of the Windows operating system.

The goal, Microsoft officials say, is to make servers and desktop PC's that people can trust. But critics say the technology, which Microsoft recently renamed "the next-generation secure computing base," could stifle the free flow of information that has come to characterize the Internet, and could give Microsoft too much control over colleges' own computerized information.

With the new technology, information-systems officials could use cryptographic hardware "keys" rather than software controls, like user names and passwords, to lock up student records and prevent illegal copying of materials. Registrars would have tamper-proof controls over who could see, copy, or alter the records. The advances could be used to prevent identity thieves from invading campus computer networks to steal Social Security numbers, grades, and other personal data.

But Palladium is worrisome to college officials for reasons other than an erosion in the fair use of copyrighted materials. Jeffrey I. Schiller, a network manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says software companies most likely would use the program to enforce license agreements that many in academe believe are legally unenforceable. For example, more and more software licenses forbid users from running tests known as benchmarks to measure the performance of one company's software against that of its competitors.

--By Florence Olson, source: The Chronicle of Higher Education

Article can be read here.

Feb 18, 2003, 05:13 AM	#1
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	Palladium Article @ CoHE Computing experts in academe often blame Microsoft for producing software that is vulnerable to viruses and hackers. But, of late, the experts have been criticizing the company's sweeping plan to correct those very deficiencies. Under the plan, announced seven months ago under the name Palladium, new computers would be equipped with security hardware and a new version of the Windows operating system. The goal, Microsoft officials say, is to make servers and desktop PC's that people can trust. But critics say the technology, which Microsoft recently renamed "the next-generation secure computing base," could stifle the free flow of information that has come to characterize the Internet, and could give Microsoft too much control over colleges' own computerized information. With the new technology, information-systems officials could use cryptographic hardware "keys" rather than software controls, like user names and passwords, to lock up student records and prevent illegal copying of materials. Registrars would have tamper-proof controls over who could see, copy, or alter the records. The advances could be used to prevent identity thieves from invading campus computer networks to steal Social Security numbers, grades, and other personal data. But Palladium is worrisome to college officials for reasons other than an erosion in the fair use of copyrighted materials. Jeffrey I. Schiller, a network manager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says software companies most likely would use the program to enforce license agreements that many in academe believe are legally unenforceable. For example, more and more software licenses forbid users from running tests known as benchmarks to measure the performance of one company's software against that of its competitors. --By Florence Olson, source: The Chronicle of Higher Education Article can be read here.