Using LinuxBios to protect against DRM in PC hardware?

[Antony Stone]

On Thursday 25 March 2004 4:06 pm, Carl Youngblood wrote:

> Pardon me if I am off-base here (I don't know much about LinuxBios), but
> I've heard rumors/threats of new BIOSes that incorporate DRM into the BIOS
> and won't allow non-approved OSes to run on them.  Could LinuxBios be a
> way of protecting against this?

I'm not aware of DRM BIOSes which stop you running non-approved OSes; however 
if you do so, then you won't be able to run DRM-aware applications, because 
the chain of assurance from hardware (TPM) to BIOS to OS to Application is 
broken (and that's what DRM-aware applications look for before they'll let 
you play with copyright materials).

As far as I'm aware, all current DRM / TCPA / TCG implementations allow you to 
boot whatever you like, but if it's not a certified OS then DRM applications 
simply won't play ball.

Obviously if you start LinuxBIOS instead of the motherboard vendor-supplied 
BIOS, you simply ignore the existence of the TPM chip/s.

Regards,

Antony.

-- 
There's no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes.

 - Billy Connolly

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