More than one way to skin a cat... "Internet Kill Switch" may be unecessary

Well, enterprising business thinkers always find a way to attract the largest consumer on the planet... The US Government.

Herein I propose that is exactly what this development by Intel equates to:

Intel's Sandy Bridge processors have a remote kill switch
www.techspot.com...

Yup..., it's Intel's "Anti-theft 3.0" and its a remote kill switch to shut down you computer's CPU wirelessly....

and no, you're computer doesn't even need to be turned on.

... those wearing tin foil hats will want to know if users have complete control over the feature. Is it enabled by default? If not, could someone else turn it on? Can anyone but the owner of the processor disable it remotely? Those might seem like paranoid questions, but nonetheless Intel needs to guarantee that the answer to all three is a resounding no.

Yes.... shamefully, I wear the above-mentioned "tin-foil hat'... and I want to know... and I'm not looking for a resounding answer... I'm looking for a verifiable one.

For years and years I used AMD processors ... much cheaper and almost as good as Intel.

Recently I bit the bullet and bought an Intel processor ... My flirtation with Intel might be very short lived, unless Intel can provide verifiable proof that the 'kill-switch' cannot be activated without my permission

It sounds kind of similar to a feature the iPhone possesses in that you can remotely wipe all data if you should ever lose your phone and have sensitive information on it. It can also be tracked via GPS so you can find your phone.

Hackers can access anything, including this kill switch. It will just be another reason for consumers to buy more computers and/or repairs. Intel will make the killswitch and also secretly create the virus that activates it..

I have spent some quality time with excellent programmers and they taught me one thing: internet security is an oxymoron. Having written this, I do not want to give the impression I know anything on this subject so I started to hunt and peck. Here is a link I found interesting, hope you do as well.

isc.sans.edu...

Note the comments, fascinating on this subject (at least to me).