Processor Serial Number back from the dead

Reuters in the US reports that the Intel Pentium III serial number fiasco refuses to lie down and die. A hitherto-unknown Canadian software house, Montreal-based Zero-Knowledge Systems, has placed a program on the web that it claims can switch on the serial number and read it without the user knowing. Intel has persuaded long-term buddy Symantec to include the utility on its list of known viruses. And a good thing too, we say. What exactly are these people afraid of? The serial number cannot be used to identify an individual, it can't even identify a particular system. If you don't want people to know you've been visiting dodgy web sites, go down to the corner store and buy a dodgy magazine instead - but beware: the dollar bill you use to buy it has (gasp!) a serial number. Big Brother or what? Team Register has a Pentium III. Its serial number is 00000672000226FA025D71BF. We are not afraid. ® Register factoid 00000672000226FA025D71AB Starting with Whitney (i810) all Intel chipsets will have a hardware random number generator as standard. Let's see what the conspiracy loonies can read into that.