The Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), formerly known as Palladium, is a software architecture designed by Microsoft which will implement the controversial trusted computing concept on future versions of the Microsoft Windows Operating System. Microsoft’s stated aim for NGSCB is to increase the security and privacy of computer users[1], but critics assert that the technology will not only fail to solve the majority of contemporary IT security problems, but also result in an increase in vendor lock-in and a resulting reduction in competition in the IT marketplace…

By utilising the attestation, curtained memory and cryptographic features of the TPM, a secure form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) may be developed; critics charge that although it does not provide DRM features itself, DRM is nevertheless the primary motivation for the development of NGSCB.

DRM would be implemented by encrypting DRM-protected files and only making the decryption key available to trusted applications. A wide range of copy-protection and similar features could thereby be implemented, limited only by the imagination. For example, it would be possible to create a file that can only be read on one computer, or within one organisation, or a file that can only be opened for reading three times. While any DRM-protected file could be just as easily copied or read as an unprotected file, it would be impossible to decrypt the file at an unauthorised destination, rendering it useless.

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