Intel to change new technology over privacy concerns

By TED BRIDIS

WASHINGTON (January 25, 1999 9:26 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Just hours after privacy groups organized a boycott, Intel Corp. reversed itself Monday and said it would disable a new technology that helps identify computer users as they move across the Internet.

Intel, the world's largest computer chipmaker with $26.2 billion in sales last year, said it will include software that turns off the feature by default in future copies of its Pentium III processors, not yet distributed to the world's computer makers.

The company also promised to offer the software to owners of existing Pentium III chips already in production, making it easy to permanently turn off the technology.

Consumers can choose to activate the technology, which for security reasons would require restarting their computers, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Monday. Intel won't need to redesign its chips.

Intel's concession came only hours after a boycott was announced in Washington by privacy groups, who launched a campaign complete with a parody of the company's ubiquitous "Intel Inside" logo. Theirs features the familiar swirl but with the words, "Big Brother Inside."

"This acknowledges that consumers want Intel inside their computer, not inside their private lives," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who urged Intel last week to reconsider its plans. "It's a great victory for consumers and for the privacy rights of all Americans."

Intel announced last week that its new Pentium III chip would by default transmit its unique serial number internally and to Web sites that requested it to help verify a user's identity.

Last week, Intel said the feature could be turned off but was reactivated whenever the computer was restarted. But on Monday, the company said that was a misunderstanding: The Pentium's ability to transmit its serial number is, in fact, reactivated, but the software "switch" still disables the feature until the consumer chooses to use the technology.

Among other things, the technology offers a boon for electronic commerce, allowing companies and shoppers to feel more secure in the transmission of sensitive data.

Privacy groups involved in the boycott said they were "delighted that Intel has taken one small step toward respecting people's privacy," but they said the concession was inadequate.

"You still have the problem of an ID number, and Web sites can force people to disclose that ID number as a condition to get into the sites," said David Banisar, an attorney with the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Just having a software patch does not resolve the underlying concerns."

The privacy information center organized the boycott with Junkbusters Corp. of Green Brook, N.J., which lobbies on a range of high-tech issues.

The Federal Trade Commission, which last year pressed for a law that prohibits Web sites from collecting personal information from children without parental permission, said the Intel debate "highlights consumer concerns about how confidential is various information for them."

"Every time one of these episodes occurs, it escalates," said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's consumer protection bureau. "This will certainly resonate on Capitol Hill and with the administration."

Markey, senior Democrat on the House Commerce consumer protection subcommittee, compared the technology's risks to a consumer browsing through stores in a shopping mall, with the shopkeepers sharing details about the consumer's purchases and tastes.

"With this decision, Intel limits the amount of information that a company can gain access to," Markey said.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the second-largest chipmaker with roughly 8 percent of the market, said it doesn't plan to offer similar technology in its processors.

"We're a market-driven company, and if consumers were to desire something like this, we'd give it consideration," spokesman Scott Allen said.

In addition to making about 85 percent of the world's computer processors, Intel also manufactures memory chips plus hardware for computer networks, communications and graphics.