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Equipment Manufactures' Response on Default Settings on the Intel Pentium III PSN
February 16, 1999 Eckhard Pfeiffer, President & CEO, Compaq Computer Corp.
At this point, you are well aware that the privacy and consumer community is deeply concerned with the privacy implications of the processor-specific identifier in the Pentium III. We believe that consumers need products that provide strong security, offer robust and varied authentication tools to support electronic commerce, and protect individual privacy and anonymity. Based on what we know so far, the Pentium III unique identifier does not meet this standard, because, the privacy risks inherent in this unique ID feature outweigh the security it potentially provides. Despite the urging of many privacy and consumer organizations, and an ongoing boycott, Intel's Pentium III chips are, as we write, being installed in your products. For that reason, we are urging you, as the distributors of consumer computers, to assist us in limiting the privacy risk this product poses by disabling the PSN in the BIOS of your Pentium III products. We strongly believe that in light of privacy concerns Intel should not be placing this product in its current iteration into the marketplace at all. However, faced with the prospect of the Pentium III being shipped in some products this month, we intend to educate consumers about the use of the PSN in consumer computers. We believe that consumers will have greater confidence in computers that come out of the box with the PSN disabled in the BIOS. And we believe, in the interest of informed consumer choice, that companies should publicize whether they are shipping Pentium III products with the ID disabled. To that end, we would appreciate your response to the following questions by Monday, February 22, 1999, at noon. We plan to disseminate your responses to the public through our Web site and other channels. We realize this is a short time frame, but due to Intel's product release on February 26th, we must distribute information as quickly as possible. We thank you in advance for your timely response. We hope that your company will show a true commitment to consumer privacy and take action to maximize consumer privacy in the computer products it ships. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely Jerry Berman Executive Director
Please Fax This Form Back to CDT
Which of the following statements best describes your company's position: (please circle the appropriate statement)
If you plan to ship products containing the Pentium III chip:
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