Opinion Our latest revelation about the ID number being embedded in all types of PII .25 micron cores apart from Tillamook, this time came from a deep throat, well inside the Intel Corporation. (Story: Unique serial number exists in all .25 micron Intel chips) It appears that the number is there because the Corporation was concerned about people re-marking chips. It became a feature because someone thought: "Hey let's help out the cosmos and announce it along with the Pentium III-Katmai. We won't bother switching it off this time round, and won't the world think we're wonderful." That puts the existence of this serial number into the category of PR cock-up rather than conspiracy. Here we have an example of management by internal meeting, committee and memorandum. Little people inside Intel might have warned it that switching the PSN on was a huge PR gaffe. But the neurons at the end of the tail found it hard to get the neurons between its ears interested. Serial numbers, per se, are not dangerous things. We've got dozens in our wallet and dozens more dotted around the house. Intel is such a huge corporation and is so concerned with staring at its own navel that it doesn't realise that others, the Intel Outsiders, might see it quite differently. If you're a small furry creature on a road and a lumbering juggernaut is bearing down on you, the question of intent to destroy your tiny, vulnerable existence doesn't come into it. The juggernaut can't help itself. That's why big multinationals, of whatever nature they are, need close scrutiny. Intel's market cap, for example, dwarfs many countries' GDPs. Intel's activities need observing because it is so huge. Chipzilla simply fails to see the effect of its actions on the rest of the universe as it lumbers about. ®