Today, ars takes a look at Trusted Network Connect (TNC).[1] This is the next step in the progression of Trusted Computing, and follows along in the shadow of the deployment of Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) in computers. In short, TNC allows computers on a network to query the state of their fellows and determine what they are running, and what they should be running. If the two do not match, the computer can be banned from the network.
Used by companies to secure their network, this is all well and good. In fact, it promises to deliver a non-trivial improvement over the existing situation. The problem is that it is not only going to be deployed and used in corporate, government, and school environments. It will be deployed in personal computers, and used against the owners. I do not take the trusting view of this that Mr. Pollack does, I highly suspect that some of these companies look forward to having tighter control over what software you run. They would just love to lock you out of websites if you are not using Internet Explorer. They would be ecstatic if not only did you have to use Internet Explorer to reach their content, but you had to not have competing software installed at all. The fact that this sort of control of our decisions is within the scope of the work on TNC and Trusted Computing in general is a significant cause for concern.
- Mr. Peter Pollack. "The next step in trusted computing makes its debut" ars technica 2006-02-16. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060216-6202.html