Unless they have forgotten the last 2 decades, Intel only has to not let you have access to specific keys that are only available to a securely booted Intel ME.

Unless they have forgotten the last 2 decades, Intel only has to not let you have access to specific keys that are only available to a securely booted Intel ME. Trying to prevent you from running something else is pointless posturing for that purpose as it is only useful to decoding DRM if you already have some means to compromise Intel MEs and extract key information. Not allowing anyone to build an alternate system with ME's capabilities is not pointless posturing when it comes to getting the NSA to bless your export of higher performance chips than the US wants many states to have. To put it a different way, they want Hollywood to have strong low layer encryption on your computer but they don't want you to have it, especially if you might be outside the US.