They wouldn't. As I said, this is to the best of my knowledge.
However, I believe I would know because it's not like one day the CEO came to us with a folder filled with requirements to be implemented. This is something that started very small ("find a way to force reboot a PC remotely if it's non-responsive") and evolved from there over months/years. I endured way too many meetings were design decisions were made. Unless there were secret CIA agents disguised as my colleagues, I really believe it was designed by Intel engineers all the way through.
I have no issues with people criticizing the product for its failures. I agree with them. But every time I see someone claiming this was a CIA thing, it actually hits me personally.
Then again, I'll never be able to convince anyone of anything. I just felt like saying something this time.
I worked on what became ME at Intel from the mid 2000s through around 2012 ou 2013.
I completely agree that in retrospect, it wasn't the best idea. However, I really want to say that it was never a project for the CIA as some keep saying.
This was a widely-marketed product at the time of its inception. It was the whole point of the Intel vPro line. I've been to a ton of roadshows between 2008 and 2009 where the marketing people demoed the heck out of ME to everybody. It was a feature thought to be THE differentiator from AMD. Of course, later AMD came up with their own equivalent and ME became "a commodity"
So again, we can all argue whether it was a bad idea, but the notion that it was designed by/with the CIA is simply not true to the best of my knowledge, but I really think I'd know, as I've been to way too many design meetings and saw the decisions being made by Intel engineers.
> Intel ME and the (assumed [0]) partnership with CIA to design and build this system
I worked at Intel on ME and the things that came before it until around 2013. I can tell you two things --
1. No, Intel ME wasn't born out of a desire to spy on people nor was it -- to the best of my knowledge but I honestly believe I would know -- created at the request of the US government (or others). It was an honest attempt at providing a functionality that we believed was useful for sysadmins. If it was something done for the CIA, I believe it would probably have been kept secret instead of marketed.
2. It was initially going to be much "worse". Early pilots with actual customers -- such as a large british bank -- were going to run a lot more stuff -- think a full JVM -- and have a lot more direct access to the user land.) Security concerns scrapped those ideas pretty early on though.
In retrospect, I personally believe the whole thing was a bad idea and everybody is free to crap on Intel for it. But the thing was never intended as a backdoor or anything like that.
However, I believe I would know because it's not like one day the CEO came to us with a folder filled with requirements to be implemented. This is something that started very small ("find a way to force reboot a PC remotely if it's non-responsive") and evolved from there over months/years. I endured way too many meetings were design decisions were made. Unless there were secret CIA agents disguised as my colleagues, I really believe it was designed by Intel engineers all the way through.
I have no issues with people criticizing the product for its failures. I agree with them. But every time I see someone claiming this was a CIA thing, it actually hits me personally.
Then again, I'll never be able to convince anyone of anything. I just felt like saying something this time.
I guess I'm having a bad morning :)