Re: [PATCH] Re: Discrepancies between /proc/cpuinfo and Dave J's x86i

[Kai Henningsen]

[e-mail] (Dave Jones)  wrote on 11.07.01 in <[e-mail]>:

> Given the PR disaster that the P3 serial number brought about,
> I'd be surprised if Intel were to revisit that chapter of history :)

Though much of that has been bad PR handling, I think. It's not as if  
Intel invented that feature - for example, every s390 system has one (and  
so did the whole family at least since the /370, used for licenses, for  
example), and everything living on ethernet is supposed to have a unique  
MAC address. (Which *has* already been used in tracing authors of  
malicious Windows software, I believe.)

OTOH, ISTR that under VM, it's possible to simulate the /370 etc. cpuid of  
someone else. Which I know has been used to circumvent license  
restrictions.

Then again, the US custom of using the SSN as a generic index would be  
rather illegal over here, so that might change peoples attitudes to the  
mere existance of those numbers - it does make a difference how big a  
stick you can wield.

Not that any of this is important to Linux ...

MfG Kai