Hardware-Based ID, Rights Management, and Trusted Systems

Abstract

Technologies involving the assignment and use of common user identifiers, such as Intel's ill-fated Processor Serial Number, provide a straightforward way for publishers to verify the authenticity of messages claiming authorization to receive digital works. These technologies are a useful adjunct to trusted systems, which allow content providers to prevent recipients from passing usable copies of the work to anyone who has not paid the content provider, and give content providers flexibility in specifying the nature of the event that will trigger a payment obligation. But their consequences are undesirable: Trusted systems relying on common identifiers will reduce anonymity and informational privacy on the Internet. They raise the prospect that a much larger proportion of ordinary transactions will require consumers to present unique identification numbers digitally linked to a wide range ofpersonally identifiable information. They are well-suited to being used across the board by a large number of unrelated information collectors, increasing the ease with which a wide range of information about a person can be aggregated into a single overall dossier.