Intel has posted a draft of its LaGrande Technology Policy on Owner/User Choice and Control, and welcomes comments until the end of this year. While I like many of their policy goals, I have a problem with one. This is not particular to LaGrande (LT), but a general problem of all TC architectures. I doubt whether the mere statement that LT will be "opt-in" will lead to something which actually resembles user choice. If my remote service provider tells me that I have to turn LT on or I will not be able to use his service, I don't see where the real user choice is. Of course, I can choose whether to use the service or not. But there are many services out there on which I depend. In such a scenario, there is de facto no real user choice. I don't say that due to this, TC is necessarily bad. I would just not stress that TC technology is "opt-in". Technically, that may be correct. In the real world out there, it won't. Besides technology, there are other forces out there, in particular market forces, that coerce users into turning TC on. Of course, I am free not to use the telephone system. But would you really call this option a choice?
