Comment by egorfine
> client-side desktop Linux remote attestation gaining any foothold is to satisfy anti-cheat for gaming, which might actually be a win in many ways.
It will be, no doubt. As soon as it is successfully tested and deployed for games, it will be used for movies, government services, banks, etc. And before you know you do not have control of your own computer.
> Who owns the garden?
Not you.
> everyone installs overlays over the top of that
Except this breaks cryptography and your computer is denied multiple services. Because you are obviously a hacker, why else would anyone want to compile and run programs.
> turning the integrity protection off (and no means to do so on PC hardware)
It's a flip of a switch, really. Once Microsoft decides you have had enough, the switch is flipped and in a couple of years no new Intel computer will boot your kernel.
> it will be used for movies, government services, banks
I really, really don't think these entities care enough about desktop Linux. I'd be way more worried about some kind of Windows web-based attestation appearing. If that happens I really do think there's a bit of an alarm to sound, because this will make using desktop Linux inconvenient in the way attestation has made using alternate Android ROMs inconvenient.
> Because you are obviously a hacker, why else would anyone want to compile and run programs.
People buy computers to run programs, it doesn't behoove anyone to prevent this. These things are driven by economics, not some weird arbitrary drive towards evil. Android strict attestation is popular because fraudulent cloned banking apps are a rampant problem for banks, not because they're trying to "stick it" to 200 GrapheneOS users.
> Once Microsoft decides you have had enough, the switch is flipped and in a couple of years no new Intel computer will boot your kernel.
Why does everyone land on this complete non sequitur? It's not the flip of a switch, that's not how UEFI Secure Boot works to start with and even then, UEFI Secure Boot is not the root of trust on x86.
This was indeed the big "Free Software" vs UEFI "Secure" Boot conspiracy theory 20+ years ago, but it didn't make sense then, doesn't make sense now, and sure enough, hasn't come to pass. First off, Microsoft aren't Intel, who own the root of trust on Intel CPUs. Second off, again, there's no incentive to do this. CPUs are a competitive market and people buy CPUs to run code. There is no reason for Intel to suddenly decide to exclusively enforce firmware verification in a way that only chained down to one vendor's keys; they're in the business of selling CPUs to people who want to run things. Also, the notion that some CPU vendor will suddenly lock down firmware keys has nothing to do with the article in question or the notion of an immutable or attestable Linux.