http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/15620.html
Stealth plan puts copy protection into every hard drive
[snip]
<B>How it works</B>
But because the system makes use of the physical location on the device of the encrypted item, software designed for non-compliant drives will break in some circumstance when encrypted data files are moved.
"It requires both drives to be compliant when data is to move from one disk to another," says Lotspiech. "And a compliant application to get all that data to the new drive".
So a hard drive containing small individual containing non-copyable files of say, Gartner reports, will essentially be unrestorable using existing backup programs.
Maybe I'm being dense today, but I don't see how this is going to work. So they have a key on your drive, they encrypt the data using this key, but at some point the data has to be decrypted and used, which means that it can be intercepted. The article isn't too clear, but it appears that a 'compliant application' is going to be needed to do the encrypt/decrypt? All software is subject to disassembly, so there is no real protection there. Not that it isn't a really dumb idea, they're trying to remove your control of the bits stored on your harddrive -- a Really Bad Thing obviously. Brian -- Brian C. Lane - Linux Programmer/Consultant/Writer www.brianlane.com Virtual Web Hosting www.nexuscomputing.com NRA Life Member www.libertynews.org ============================================================================ Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. -- Daniel Webster