Time is running out.

Microsoft Corp., the company that is responsible for the vast majority of computer security problems (viruses, easily cracked backdoors, etc.) is preparing a digital "remote control" system called Palladium as a solution to security problems. While this may sound useful, Palladium would be the most invasive, restrictive, and anti-competitive system ever devised.

Under Palladium, files ranging from personal internet history to even hard disk contents could be remotely scanned for and deleted. Websites deemed "insecure" would be blockable as well to Palladium-enabled computers. Leaks would become a thing of the past, as government bodies and corporations could use Palladium to make their documents unreadable on other computers.

This system, also known as the "Trusted Computing Platform Alliance" (TCPA), would threaten free and open source software. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) made reverse engineering systems such as Palladium illegal, which makes the development of a GPL version nearly impossible.

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