UK holds Microsoft security talks (BBC) [LWN.net]

UK holds Microsoft security talks (BBC)

Posted Feb 15, 2006 18:29 UTC (Wed) by dd9jn (subscriber, #4459)
In reply to: UK holds Microsoft security talks (BBC) by nigelm
Parent article: UK holds Microsoft security talks (BBC)

Check out Ross' blog at http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2006/02/13/forensics-a...

"I dont see the Vista security mechanisms as being security for me,
but as security for them. Its just not the same as the key escrow
debates of the 1990s - in which I opposed key escrow on principle.
The technologys being used for different things here.

If you want privacy, use PGP - or better still, some low-observable
communication technology, such as throwaway prepaid mobile phones or
webmail accounts"

Thus is is explictly against DRM efforts.
The BBC story paints a another (wrong) picture.

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UK holds Microsoft security talks (BBC)

Posted Feb 15, 2006 22:39 UTC (Wed) by andy (guest, #21272) [Link]

I think the BBC's account of what was *actually said* yesterday to the committee as at least as accurate as Ross' blog. All the quotes seem to be verbatim.

Listen to the recording (interesting bit is about an hour or so in).

The police (or the government) want to be able to hold a suspect 90 days (rather than 14 or 28) before charging them. They are using "increasing difficulty of decrypting seized hard drives" as one argument to support this. Ross claimed decryption is easy or impossible, so doesn't come into the argument. But he pointed out that under TPM things will get even harder unless the home office talk to microsoft *and* intel, "NOW rather than when the product ships".

Shame the BBC didn't give Ross' entire quote on the reasons for [microsoft's] introduction of this technology:
1) for DRM and
2) "to lock the customer in tightly and charge more for the product".