Recently I've been running across stuff on TCPA from various sites claiming it's practically a digital antichrist.

I'm calling FUD on these reports for several reasons. These reasons include:

• Reports sound suspiciously like some anti-MS FUD I've seen (grandose and paranoid).
• The people behind TCPA offer info about this chip and its functions for free, and this information contradicts most of the claims about TCPA.
• Something the reports don't tell you: it can be turned OFF. A common FUD trick is to selectively leave out information that could make your topic unscary.

Some of the bigger statements about TCPA include:

• It will force you to use only Windows. (funny, if that's the case why is Linux getting certified?)
• Only certified programs will be able to run on computers with TCPA. (This is claimed as being untrue in both the TCPA's FAQs and their tech papers.)
• You won't have access to your files like your MP3s or JPGs. (Funny, TCPA is supposed to securly store personl information -- your name, address, phone number, email address, credit card numbers -- and I've NEVER heard of mp3s or jpgs being "personal information"!)
• It will be illegal to own a computer that doesn't have the chip. (funny, laws don't work like that -- it'll be illegal to SELL or BUY new computers that don't have the chip, but already owning a computer without the chip when the law passed doesn't make you a criminal!)

So does anyone have hard proof that any of this "TCPA is EVIL" crap is legit?

By the way: FUD means FEAR, UNCERTAINTY and DOUBT. aka a SCARE TACTIC.

As is my understanding, TCPA is a chip, and perhaps related software. A chip is not inherently good or evil. It is when a large software company, known for anti-competitive behavior, uses their monopoly position and the chip to further their own software lock-in, and dictate what you can do with _your_ own computer that the problems arise...

No, I have no 'proof', but history keeps me largely skeptical of the benefits outweighing the drawbacks of this particular technology.

TCPA was actually proposed by Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina (D) Or at least one form was known as the Fritz chip.

MS was designed a software code to compliment it but was not needed for the chip to work.

Everyone freaked out because some 3 rd party guy made a website talking about it and everyone tok it as the utter and total truth. And to this day people still reference it like its totally factual.

The Fritz Hollings legislation failed...

But Disney, the MPAA, and the RIAA keep trying to push this, as does M$,...

Basically, "trusted computing" = unsecure computing. You lose control over what is happening on your system and is totally contrary to the philosophy of Linux and OpenSource.

Considering that "Longhorn" is a year away,... it is likley that more and more people will consider switching to Linux. XPee caused a great number of switches (including mine),... and M$'s latest fiasco will cause more.

The bottom line is that people aren't going to change the way they do things. Trusted computing will fail, and will likely expose companies to lawsuits regarding the destruction of communication (you know that memo, the one everyone remembers but no copy exists,... discovery rules may make that company subject to court sanctions for erasing it). People don't see this now,... but they will in the future.

The bigger issue, IMHO, is exactly who does MS work for? I say it should be for the people using their software and paying Gate's bills, not other oligopolies like the music industry. If we truly had free markets and fair competition music CDs would be $1 each and nobody would waste their time pirating them, IMHO.

That's a little extreme...

The music industry does not spend most of its retail take on the piracy issue. That's a huge myth. One they purpetuate. It only costs a few $$ to make each music CD, but then there is marketing and promotion etc. Plus, the public assumes that rock stars earn "Rock Star" salaries... and so you have to support that as well. They simply claim their piracy numbers now because with digital technology, it is easier to make good sounding copies. They want to be a growth industry, and they are not... and so they make grand claims about their losses to piracy.