Need voluntary/optional TCPA/Palladium quote

[Tim May]

On Thursday, July 4, 2002, at 05:49  PM, Lucky Green wrote:

> I am looking for a quote by a TCPA or Palladium principal that states
> that TCPA and/or Palladium will be voluntary or optional. Google was not
> helpful. Did anybody on here run across such a quote in one of the
> interviews recently published? Please include the URL/citation.

And even if such a quote is found, such a promise will not be legally 
binding.

We should be very worried about the news that Intel and AMD are already 
signing up to include some form of DRM or BBI (Big Brother Inside) 
"rights enforcement" circuitry in future chips. (If MS provided the 
specs separately to Intel and AMD, and perhaps other vendors of CPUs, 
then perhaps no violations of the antitrust laws occurred. If, however, 
Intel and AMD got together and came to an agreement on what BBI 
circuitry to include, this almost certainly would violate the Sherman, 
Clayton, etc. Acts. While I am not a fan of antitrust laws, we may want 
to use them to stop spyware from being included in CPUs.)

Some have argued that such circuitry is harmless so long as it is 
"voluntary."

I disagree. It's a dangerous as builders includng video cameras in homes 
with the proviso that the video signal would only be used to enforce 
agreed-upon uses of products...or with a court order from the government.

Though this is only speculation at this point (few of us, least of all 
me, have the inside track on what Microsoft, Intel, and AMD are 
plotting, or what the discussions with Congress, the NSA, HomeSec, and 
the FBI have covered), I think building in Big Brother is dangerous no 
matter what "promises" or "assurances" have been given.

"The cyanide release mechanisms adopted voluntarily by the National 
Homebuilding Association and the Zoning Approval Boards represent no 
threat to law-abiding Americans. Release of cyanide requires a valid 
court order signed by at least a GS-9 employee."

Last time Intel tried to activate its CPU BBI circuitry, AMD very 
publicly said "We won't do it!" and Intel backed down. From what is 
dribbling out of Redmond and D.C. this time around, it looks like AMD 
has been convinced (by who?) to include DRM/BBI spyware in future CPUs.

These vendors have _probably_ (I am speculating) received assurance that 
spyware will be _mandated_, to head off exactly the kind of 
egg-on-its-face problem Intel experienced. In game theory terms, none of 
the vendors look forward to having a competitor "defect" and then tout 
their "we won't spy on your computer" CPU. They must all hang together, 
or hang separately.

I expect it will be "voluntary mandatory."

(I remain skeptical about stopping piracy, for other reasons.)

--Tim May (Mandatory Voluntary Internet Self-Rating Follows)
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