about smartcards (Re: TPM support status ?)

[Robert Millan]

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 06:31:03PM +0200, Duboucher Thomas wrote:
> Also, TPM can do the same operations that a SmartCard can; the only
> difference being that one object is a small SmartCard, and the other is
> a computer (or any device, laptop, cellphone, PPA, ...).

I've been asked about this elsewhere, so just to make it clear: there's no
problem at all with SmartCards.  Even the FSF distributes some themselves.

The reason we object to TPMs is that they can be used to prevent people
from using free software in their general-purpose computers (nowadays
this includes laptops, cellphones and whatnot) to interact with the outside
world.

SmartCards are a single-purpose device.  Users don't install software in them,
and they don't have any user interface (other than a button or so) that could
be used to implement DRM, so it's not an issue if their owners can't modify
their firmware (which could even be in a ROM).

Whether SmartCards can be used for something unethical is outside our scope.
We're in the free software bussiness, not in the "free authentication" one.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."