Intel to Showcase Pentium III Despite Calls for Boycott

Intel Corp. today will unveil the latest version of its popular personal computer microprocessor, the Pentium III, featuring improved multimedia functions and a security feature that has prompted a boycott by privacy groups.

The world’s largest computer chip maker, aiming to show that its new processor has vast support within the computer industry, will host a marketing extravaganza today at the San Jose Convention Center, where hundreds of companies will display products designed for the Pentium III.

Most major computer makers expected to ship systems featuring the Pentium III on Feb. 26.

The San Jose event is one of the first salvos in a marketing push highlighting the chip’s new, more powerful multimedia instruction set, the successor to Intel’s MMX multimedia technology.

The roll-out has been marred by calls for a boycott of Intel products by advocacy groups--such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington--concerned that the Pentium III’s new security feature might compromise consumer privacy.

Intel disclosed last month that each Pentium III would carry a processor serial number, or PSN, that could be used to identify users while buying goods over the Internet, or even while they are just visiting Web sites.

Intel said the number stamp would make it safer for consumers to buy products over the Internet and access confidential information such as health records.

After the initial protests, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel said it would modify the chip’s software by creating a patch that would give users the option of activating the PSN every time the computer is turned on.

Privacy groups are not satisfied, however. They are asking computer makers to disable the security function in the system’s BIOS (basic input/output system).