Nexus - 0603 - New Times Magazine-pages

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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS THE PENTIUM Ill CHIP: YOUR NEW INTERNET ID CARD? planning to include a unique Processor Serial Number (PSN) in every one of its new Pentium III chips. According to Intel, the PSN will be used to identify users in electronic commerce and other net- based applications. But a growing number of consumers—spearheaded by Junkbusters, a New Jersey-based technology lobby group that has been leading a boycott of the Pentium III chip—believe that the provision of a unique PSN, which can be read remotely by websites and other pro- grams in mass-market computers, would significantly damage their privacy. This num- ber is designed to be used to link users' activities on the Internet for marketing and other purposes. According to Intel VP Patrick Gelsinger, the PSN will be used to identify users who access Internet websites or chat rooms. The technology will also be used for authentica- tion in e-commerce, which will attach the PSN to a person's real-world identity. The PSN would likely be collected by many sites, and indexed and accumulated in databases. Unlike "cookies", which are usually different for each website, the PSN will remain the same and cannot be deleted or easily changed. Because the United States has few legal protections for online privacy, there are no practical limits on what can be collected or used. With PSNs, any software running on a person's PC can obtain the PSN and, if the application is Internet-enabled, can transmit it anywhere. The user may be unaware this has happened. Given the widespread practice of downloading shareware, and the lack of legal protection over personal data and the economic incentives to collect and sell it, widespread abuse seems more than likely. Gelsinger also told the RSA conference that over 30 companies had already given commitments to Intel that they were planning to use the PSN. [= announced on 20 January 1999 that it was Threats to Internet Privacy and Security According to Internet security experts, the PSN will not provide real security because it is poorly designed. Hackers will be able to forge PSNs, thus undercutting potential authentication uses. Intel announced on 25 January that it is planning to release a software program that would turn the PSN function ‘off’. This program will run automatically each time a com- puter is booted, and turn the PSN off for that session. However, the PSN function will remain in the Pentium III chip and will be available if the program is disabled for any reason. Some of the problems are as follows: * This software program does not exist yet. According to the Washington Post, the program will not become available until months after the first PIII-enabled machines are shipped, and even then it will only work for Windows. Users will be required to access the Intel web page to obtain a copy of the program and install it themselves. * This approach relies on other companies to install the program for Intel. When the program does become available, Intel will have to ask every computer manufacturer and other computer companies, including Microsoft, to adopt this into their systems. Some of these companies, such as Microsoft, which have an interest in using the PSN for soft- ware verification, may refuse to install the program. ¢ Users will be required to provide the PSN. It is likely that users will be required to disable the PSN privacy protections by many software programs and websites as a condi- tion for access. * The software program can be tampered with or disabled. Because the privacy pro- tection scheme relies on a software patch that must run each and every time that a user turns on the computer, it is susceptible to tampering by other software programs. According to Intel VP Patrick Gelsinger, many software developers are already planning to use the PSN and would be likely to require that the patch be removed. (Source: Junkbusters website, www. bigbrotherinside.com) "Even with the best medical care and various treatment regimes, all our findings have shown that neuroblastoma has an incredibly high recurrence rate which is generally more widespread with amplification. Add to the list highly possible side-effects; for example, low blood count and irreversible renal or kidney damage, high-frequency hearing loss and neurotoxicity. "We eventually found treatment for Liam and have been pursuing this for three weeks. At this stage, Liam is healthy and happy and the tumour is reducing rapidly. Ultimately we would wish that our choice for non-invasive treatment for Liam be respected and be able to be done in conditions a lot less stressful. "Given Liam's legal status and the uncompromising approach by HealthCare Otago, we have no option but to remain in hiding and continue his treatment, and our only hope for a happy outcome is to present Liam as a cured boy. "We feel that we are acting in Liam's best interest and we are grateful to all people giving us their support. "(signed) Brendan, Trina, Molley and Liam Williams-Holloway" (Source: E-mails from NZ NEXUS readers) DOUBLE MASTECTOMY: THE TROUBLE WITH STATISTICS very year, hundreds of western women have both their apparently healthy breasts surgically removed in an effort to ensure they will not contract breast cancer. But even this kind of extreme, "preventive" measure is no guarantee. Having a double mastectomy can reduce the risk of dying of breast cancer by 90 per cent, according to a study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Interestingly, the investigators from the Mayo Clinic derived this figure from "sta- tistical models" and from "the death rate of the patients’ sisters", i.e., people who did not undergo the operation but presumably faced the same cancer risk. They studied 639 women who, during the period 1960 to 1993, had double mastectomies but no breast cancer, and found there were only two deaths, whereas statistics predicted there should have been 20 deaths. The end result was that 619 women had radical and needless surgery, and the rest of us are no clearer as to what it all means! (Sources: The Australian, 15 January 1999; Time, 25 January 1999) APRIL —- MAY 1999 NEXUS <9