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Privacy Concerns May Ground Pentium III In Europe
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Sylvia Dennis, Newsbytes
The Intel Corp. [NASDAQ:INTC] Pentium III chip's option to use
individualized serial numbers for tracking purposes may get the
device banned in Europe on privacy grounds, according to a group of
information technology lawyers.
Law firm Nabarro Nathanson said that the personal serial number
(PSN) within the Pentium III chip is continuing to worry its legal
specialists, and that the European Union may need to consider new
legislation in conjunction with this issue.
As reported previously, Intel encountered opposition from civil
liberties groups and some consumers earlier this year in the US,
when the IT industry realized the potential of the PSN technology.
As a result of media coverage, Intel said it was modifying the way
the PSN operaed to meet privacy issue worries.
This has not satisfied Nabarro Nathanson, which said that the PSN
technology may be in violation of the European Union's Privacy
Directive, adopted in October 1998.
The law firm is taking issue with the PSN's ability to be tracked
across the Internet, saying that consumers' e-commerce transactions
could be tracked by using this number.
Dai Davis, an IT lawyer with Nabarro Nathanson, said that a report
on the Intel Pentium III processor that just was published by the
Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel advises the
European Parliament to conduct an independent technical assessment
of the Pentium III.
Davis added that there are understandable concerns that information
gathered by the chips manufacturers or by law enforcement agencies
in the US could be misused.
Davis said that the report says that the relevant committees of the
European Parliament should be asked to consider legal measures to
prevent PSN-equipped (or PSN-equivalent) chips from being installed
in the computers of European citizens, firms and organizations.
The report, he said, adds that it is: "motivated purely by the
characteristics of a product which, unless rapid action is taken at
Community level, may become a de facto industrial standard in
Europe within the next few months".
Nabarro Nathanson said that Intel has said it will make software
available that will enable chip users to turn off the serial number
function. However, the law firm also reports that there are doubts
about whether this can be achieved.
In addition, the law firm said that such a software patch would
require users to have to understand the need to use such software.
For most individual consumers, the company says, this is likely to
be beyond their level of skills.
Copies of the report can be downloaded from the Web at
http://cryptome.org/stoa-r3-5.htm .
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