Who do you trust?

After reading this article, I have to wonder what it's going to take for most people to truely understand what our future will hold. TPM ( or Trusted Platform Module ), is basically a new watchdog system being developed by a group of companies including Intel, Sun, Microsoft, and IBM ( to name a few ). Normally, I just write this stuff off as just another article that doesn't get it, but something about this article really bothers me.

(Of course you could always “fool” the system by starting your computer with your unique PIN or fingerprint and then letting another person use it, but that’s a choice similar to giving someone else your credit card.)

Computers are nothing like credit cards. Credit cards have one single purpose, to act as a conduit for monetary transactions. Although in some cases they're used for basic identity verification. A computer is many things to many different people. Would you loan your 12 year old child your credit card? Would you loan that same 12 year old child access to your computer in order to write a paper for school?

If your credit card is stolen, you have someone to turn to for assistance in minimizing damage. Try doing that with your computer if you're the victim of Identity Theft. This suggestion that just because you can fool something, that it's still secure is pretty irresponsible.

People need to be educated on basic safe computing practices. Companies need to be held responsible for mistakes on their part. Peter Parker's uncle Ben once said "With great power, comes great responsibility". This is no difference, computers are powerful tools for many different things from leisure to learning to paying bills.

If you want to use the comparison between the credit card and a computer, try this one. Would you walk up to some random person on the street, and hand him your credit card to but some stickers to put on your clothes, your door, or whatever? Of course not, that's borderline braindead when it comes to common sense. Then why is it so acceptable to try and download every 'super happy fun screensaver 2000' and 'giggly fantastic joy icons'. Normally if it's free, then you're going to get stuck with something extra. Could be a virus, adware, or worse. People are so happy downloading things off of Limewire and Kazza that you should never download to begin with. But the second their computer starts 'acting funny', they complain about 1000 things that have nothing to do with the basic problem.

Security should be a very visible part of a system. Not overly complicated, but you should have a way to check the security status of your computer at any given time. This shouldn't just be a tool of geeks and hackers around the world. My grandmother should be able to figure out if she's safe or not. Some groups are making progress in this area, but to tout TPM as the solution, is just like saying we could reduce crime if everyone wears dog collars with ID chips in them. Or better yet, why don't we just assign each and every person they're very own police officer.

I for one know I don't trust my identity in the hands of the same companies who lose that data, then pay for 'reports' that say 'most victims of ID theft have nothing to worry about'. Take it from someone who has had his ID stolen before. It does matter. And until these same companies that are touting 'secure services' based on TPM, can actually write software that isn't crackable by common means that have been out there for years, then I for one will not welcome our new overlord watchers.