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On Thursday 07 June 2012 06:47 PM, Kerry Brown wrote:
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">The
“feature” is called SecureBoot. SecureBoot is part of the UEFI
standards. Any OS can take advantage of it or not. It is up to the
manufacturer how they implement it. Both Dell and HP have said they
will have a BIOS setting to turn it on/off. AMI has indicated they will
recommend this to OEMs using the AMI BIOS. PC’s shipped with Windows 8
will default to on. If you want to install Linux you will have to turn
it off. The reason for it existing is to prevent root kits. It appears
that with Windows 8 tablets you may not be able to disable this. That
is unfortunate but it is the norm for tablets where you usually have to
install new firmware to install a different OS.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">I
don’t know what the fuss is. </span></p>
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<br>
The fuss is about the incremental but unmistakable manner in which the
digital space/ opportunity is getting centralised, and tied to the
control of a few global monopolies. This goes against the early
egalitarian promise of a decentralised and bottom up architecture of
the digital space/ opportunity. One can always argue that separately
any of the individual steps in this direction is not by itself of such
monumental significance, as you try to do, but their collective impact
on our digital ecology is what should concern us all, that is we are
indeed inclined to be so concerned. It is the separation of software
from the hardware which is
credited with starting the IT revolution. Shouldnt a process of
reversal of such separation concern us.<br>
<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">There
is a lot of FUD about this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.uefi.org/learning_center/UPFS11_P2_SecureBoot_Insyde.pdf">http://www.uefi.org/learning_center/UPFS11_P2_SecureBoot_Insyde.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">Kerry
Brown<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; color: windowtext;"
lang="EN-US">From:</span></b><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; color: windowtext;"
lang="EN-US"> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org">governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org</a>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org">mailto:governance-request@lists.igcaucus.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jeremy
Malcolm<br>
<b>Sent:</b> June-06-12 11:32 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:governance@lists.igcaucus.org">governance@lists.igcaucus.org</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [governance] Verisign to control what operating
systems you can run on your computer<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">There's been much
disquiet on this list about the power that Verisign has to delete
domains from the Internet at the whim of US authorities.<br>
<br>
Potentially even more frightening, they will soon be able to decide
what operating system you may run on your computer. PCs that are
certified for use with Windows 8 will, by default, refuse to run any
operating system that is not digitally signed by a Verisign-issued
certificate. Even worse, the only certificates that hardware and
device manufacturers will recognise by default are Microsoft's.<br>
<br>
This leads to the absurd situation that even commercial vendors of
Linux, such as Red Hat, will be paying Verisign to attach a digital
signature from Microsoft's key-signing root to their versions of Linux
- otherwise they simply won't run at all.<br>
<br>
If that wasn't outrageous enough, consider the geopolitical
implications of this. By virtue of US sanctions, Verisign will not
permit anyone from Cuba, Iran, Syria etc. to develop an operating
system (or even to distribute a version of Linux that they compile from
source) for users of Windows 8 certified computers.<br>
<br>
Why should it stop there? A US court order might be obtained against
Verisign to prevent it from certifying China's Red Flag Linux, or
Russia's ALT Linux. Billions of consumers could be forced into using
older or second-rate computers, or buying Microsoft's operating system,
because home-grown operating systems won't run.<br>
<br>
Will the IGC take a stand against this?<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">-- <o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b>Dr Jeremy Malcolm<br>
Senior Policy Officer</b><br>
<span style="font-size: 9pt;">Consumers International</span><br>
<span style="font-size: 9pt; color: gray;">Kuala Lumpur Office for
Asia-Pacific and the Middle East<br>
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia<br>
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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