Intel anti-theft released
INTEL, LENOVO AND ABSOLUTE just came out with the first purchasable version of the Intel Anti-theft technology. After a brief chat with guys from all three companies, it looks like they did things right.
Anti-theft (AT) builds upon what Intel started in Vpro, basically a small amount of compute power and storage in the chipset. With Vpro, you can store sensitive information like encryption keys in the chipset itself, making things very hard to snoop/discover. The small amount of compute power allows it to tweak the machine without OS intervention. You can see how both of these things are useful for anti-theft.
Lets assume you already have a fleet of the brand new Lenovo T400s, successors to the T61 line that you know and love. You flash the BIOS, and install the Computrace software, and then set up your parameters for messing with the bad guys. Absolute will either host the database for you as a service, or in Q2/09, will sell you software to host your own should you want to go that route.
The combination of hardware and software allows you to do a bunch of interesting things, both proactive and reactive. Most of them do not require any specific OS because they are hosted on the chipset, but some features may need a live OS.
The proactive features tend to be aimed at regulatory compliance and the like. You can set timers to disable logins if the computer has not checked in to a central server within a set time period. Users simply hate this, but the non-technical side of management sees it as the best thing since golf. Until they get hit by it.
In any case, you can manually call in and get a one-time boot key, allowing you to get back online and check in. They will then do whatever they needed to do when you check in, back up, push patches, or simply feel good that they checked another box on the big sheet of SarbOx compliance.
The reactive bit is a little more interesting. You can set it to brick the machine on password failures, a signal from a remote server, or a number of other triggers. Once again, this is chipset based, so you can't block it with the usual tricks, setting kablooey.absolute.com to 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file will not block this, but an external firewall might depending on how crafty they are. In any case, a timer plus a remote server would be a pain to get around even if you are aware of it.
When bricking the machine, you can make it not pass the BIOS screen. If you are good little corporate drones and have hardware-based full-disk encryption (FDE), it can wipe the keys, and the thief has a bunch of mostly random bits on a magnetic drink coaster. If you are not using the hardware FDE, or simply not encrypting the disk, then you have potential problems.
Computrace can help there, it can wipe selective files, folders, keys, or the entire disk. This is OS dependent, so they would have to boot the computer in order to wipe it, but most thieves tend to turn the thing on to see what they have, don't they?
Once you report the PC stolen, it can be disabled or tracked. The tracking bit is kind of humorous, you got this great deal off Ebay, and after using it for a week, the cops show up at your door. Whoops.
This also addresses the problem of large scale theft. If Lenovo puts Computrace in at the factory, and the truck full of notebooks goes *poof* somewhere in eastern Europe, when they are plugged in, they get bricked instantly. This may very well make Lenovo laptops about as sought after as month old beets in that part of the world once word gets out. If they were smart, they could ship the laptops disabled, forcing a check-in at first turn-on. If they are stolen, they never get unbricked.
Given not only what this software and hardware combo does, but where it resides, and how it functions, we think it has a very good chance of being effective. It can't be bypassed with a BIOS reset, and if you set things right, it has to check in periodically or it bricks. This could be a very powerful tool for companies looking to lock things down.
There are no obvious flaws to the system this time, and that is a good starting point. ยต
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Haha

this kind of technology if not fool proof. but it does provide the tool to take your notebook as hostage.

image all of your data being hold hostage by third party.

i just cant image, my kids messing with the notebook only to get it bricked. 

LOL
"There are no obvious flaws to the system this time, and that is a good starting point"

Are you serious ? Yes its looks like they've thought it through some but its all the bits they've missed which will cause the problems. 

Any time you create a system for blocking people out of things you open up a massive denail of service vector. 

Can you imagine what would happen once the h4x04z work out that they can brick peoples machines over the internet, using a replay attack or through a buffer overflow with the software that controlls this stuff.
maybe no flaws now, but you forget the potential for misuse. Lets for an instance imagine, there is a worm. 100k laptops go brick, or worse the program rewrites the chip set. How do you treat such an infection? You can use the computer, but it is forever infected and nothing is secure from that point. There is a government deployed check in enforced, what if aliens landed on America and not Canada or Romania. what if jeff was on the fourth season?
There are few important factor why someone stole your laptop, the most general is to get money. There are 2 way to do so. 1. Stealing company secret. 2. Sell it.

Both of it need the laptop to be unbroke. If Lenovo or Intel or someone else manage to program auto self destuct program, then there isn't any use to stole a laptop.

Because you can get what you want with broken laptop / destroy laptop. I hope Intel will do so with something like Startrek. Perhaps when someone buy laptop, the need to be initialize with captain, first officer, and commander (you, your mom, and you dad). 

When the laptop stolen, three of you use the other device to confirm the auto self destuct. When it it verified, the laptop will be blowen :D.
"This also addresses the problem of large scale theft. If Lenovo puts Computrace in at the factory"

...

"There are no obvious flaws to the system this time, and that is a good starting point."

Well yes, except the one where I won't be buying hardware where there is any possibility that some disgruntled asshole working for the manufacturer can remotely brick it, or where my system pings a manufacturer system (or any I don't designate) every time I turn it on. Undesired location/activity tracking is bad.
Expect many companies in the future to be not available and closed and support blocked while they try to reset systems of employees who can't be bothered to follow all those silly instructions.
Oh and your salary will be 2 weeks late and your cheques will bounce too no doubt while accounting or your bank wait for the IT staff to issue new authorisations because the boss didn't bother to not get invalidated.
Sounds like a tracker/immobiliser for pc's. Can it also be fitted to cars, phones, tv's?

If theives cannot steal items to sell on, then will that mean that the thieves will have to attack us for the money we carry?

And what about when the money is mostly digital, what will the drug addict theives do then?

Making items less valuable if stolen is excellent.

We also need to look at changing prisons into places where prisoners have to live as the rest of us do. Make them work 9-5, 5 days a week, cook their own meals in a shared apartment and shop in the prison supermarket twice a week. To leave prison they should have a place to live and a job, which they must attend. This will mean that they are remodelled to be like the rest of us.