Top PC Makers Respond to Chip Privacy Concern With Own Plan
Top computer makers are taking independent actions to quell concerns that personal privacy will be compromised by Intel’s forthcoming Pentium III microprocessor--the subject of a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission to be filed today.
The Pentium III, which will appear in PCs beginning Sunday, uses a unique serial number designed to support secure online transactions by identifying the processor--and indirectly, the PC user--to World Wide Web sites and other online hosts. Privacy advocates argue that the method creates a hard-wired ID for tracking users’ activities on the Web.
Intel has agreed to provide a software utility that “turns off” the ID. But some PC makers are addressing escalating concerns--including the call for a boycott of the chip--by taking matters into their own hands.
IBM, Dell Computer, Gateway, Compaq Computer (for some models) and other major vendors will disable the ID in the basic input/output system, or BIOS, low-level software that controls basic PC functions. As with Intel’s software, the PC user must explicitly reactivate the serial number.
Manufacturers hope the BIOS approach will allay concerns recently raised by privacy groups and a German trade publication that Intel’s utility for turning off the ID could be circumvented by hackers.
“We know that the BIOS mechanism is completely secure,” said Bob Burnett, Gateway’s vice president of product management and planning.
The Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington-based civil liberties group, plans to file today’s FTC complaint and asked leading PC makers to outline their approaches to the issue. “We’re trying to put pressure on the market leaders to show that they care about consumer privacy,” said Ari Schwartz, a policy analyst at the center.
Schwartz called the BIOS fix the best current solution. But like other privacy advocates, he favors a complete removal of the serial number.
“The FTC’s jurisdiction [includes] unfair and deceptive practices, and the complaint outlines how we feel Intel’s statements on the serial number have been unfair and deceptive,” Schwartz said.
Intel spokesman Tom Waldrop said that the chip maker has provided technical information to manufacturers that enables them to implement the BIOS change. “From our point of view, it adds another layer of protection and of choice for the computer maker and the user,” he said.
Waldrop noted Intel’s serial number can be used to validate a PC user’s identity in online transactions, which the company views as a first step in delivering better security and privacy on the Internet.
Some PC makers agree that the Intel technology could ultimately prove helpful.
“For service and support, it can be very beneficial to users” who may need remote diagnostic tests performed, said D. J. Anderson, spokeswoman for NEC Computer Systems. “At this point,” she said, “our commercial customers are not concerned about it.”
