3 ms·

Intel sells 100,000,000 chips a year. The percentage of those chips going to people who care about ME, or for that matter have even _heard_ of it, is so astrono

by Cacti 8y ago

Intel sells 100,000,000 chips a year. The percentage of those chips going to people who care about ME, or for that matter have even _heard_ of it, is so astronomically small as to be irrelevant.

arminiusreturns 8y ago
I disagree. Enterprises make up a huge part of that market share, and with an increase in cpu sidechannels, they could easily start upping the pressure by asking for non-ME/PSP systems. Of course theyll get told no, but somewhere that metric will grow until it gets the attention it deserves. Even if a battle is uphill it doesnt mean its not worth the fight.
- TheSmiddy 8y ago
  Exactly, end users do not care but people making their purchasing decisions might.
  - ethagnawl 8y ago
    > people making their purchasing decisions might Board members and shareholders might (some day -- hopefully) care, too.
- akvadrako 8y ago
  The reason ME is there is for enterprises. So indeed, they do have clout.
  - nickpsecurity 8y ago
    Intel was also a partner of NSA in Trusted Computing and other alliances. It being optional add-on would make sense for enterprise targeting. It being mandatory in everything with no alternatives makes me think they're getting paid by NSA and/or defense contracts to keep it there. The lesks said they paid $100 million to ISP's for adding taps. No way they'd pass up on Intel/AMD/IBM if they already had a good excuse (i.e. cover) for putting it there.
    - arminiusreturns 8y ago
      Its worth remembering Bill Hamilton says they were doing it at the low level chip manufacturer level a long time ago. (I first saw his claims in the comment section of Bruce Schneiers blog). Danny Casalaro, PROMIS, and the octopus, and all that... the point being this is nothing new, just newly pervasive.
e12e 8y ago
Part of the problem is that there's not many real alternatives for now. Maybe power9 can help - but really, if you want a laptop today, it'll be with Intel backdoor hw or arm backdoor hw.

by Cacti 8y ago

Intel sells 100,000,000 chips a year. The percentage of those chips going to people who care about ME, or for that matter have even _heard_ of it, is so astronomically small as to be irrelevant.

arminiusreturns 8y ago

I disagree. Enterprises make up a huge part of that market share, and with an increase in cpu sidechannels, they could easily start upping the pressure by asking for non-ME/PSP systems. Of course theyll get told no, but somewhere that metric will grow until it gets the attention it deserves. Even if a battle is uphill it doesnt mean its not worth the fight.

TheSmiddy 8y ago
Exactly, end users do not care but people making their purchasing decisions might.
- ethagnawl 8y ago
  > people making their purchasing decisions might Board members and shareholders might (some day -- hopefully) care, too.
akvadrako 8y ago
The reason ME is there is for enterprises. So indeed, they do have clout.
- nickpsecurity 8y ago
  Intel was also a partner of NSA in Trusted Computing and other alliances. It being optional add-on would make sense for enterprise targeting. It being mandatory in everything with no alternatives makes me think they're getting paid by NSA and/or defense contracts to keep it there. The lesks said they paid $100 million to ISP's for adding taps. No way they'd pass up on Intel/AMD/IBM if they already had a good excuse (i.e. cover) for putting it there.
  - arminiusreturns 8y ago
    Its worth remembering Bill Hamilton says they were doing it at the low level chip manufacturer level a long time ago. (I first saw his claims in the comment section of Bruce Schneiers blog). Danny Casalaro, PROMIS, and the octopus, and all that... the point being this is nothing new, just newly pervasive.

e12e 8y ago

Part of the problem is that there's not many real alternatives for now. Maybe power9 can help - but really, if you want a laptop today, it'll be with Intel backdoor hw or arm backdoor hw.