Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by trollied 1917 days ago
I don’t know why you’ve gone on a tangent and randomly mentioned Apple?

Anyway, speaking of unique identifiers in mobile devices, mobile phones have had IMEIs for ages - pre-dates Apple by a long time.

1 comments

From TFA:

> Intel has revealed that each Pentium III chip will carry a unique serial number that can be read by the computer's software. Intel claims that the serial number will facilitate e-commerce, promote "digital content protection," prevent counterfeiting of Intel processors, and help to track stolen ones. We know users have questions about this controversial feature, so we assembled this FAQ. Q: Why are privacy experts concerned? A: Privacy experts are concerned because the CPU's electronic serial number could be used for purposes that may not be in users' best interests.