What is TCPA?
Against TCPA
TCPA stands for Trusted Computing Platform Alliance. For the technology we will speak from TCP (The trusted computing platform). This plans that every computer will have a TPM (Trusted Platform Module), also known as Fritz-Chip, built-in. At later development stages, these functions will be directly included into CPUs, graphiccards, harddisks, soundcards, bios and so on. This will secure that the computer is in a TCPA-conform state and that he checks that it's always in this state. This means: On the first level comes the hardware, on the second comes TCPA and then comes the user. The complete communication works with a 2048 bit strong encryption, so it's also secure enough to make it impossible to decrypt this in realtime for a longer time. This secures that the TCPA can prevent any unwanted software and hardware. The long term result will be that it will be impossible to use hardware and software that's not approved by the TCPA.
IBM TCPA specs
TCPA FAQ
No TCPA
Senator "Fritz"

The solution? Build your own hardware: processor, chipset, ram, video card,... Impossible? Maybe...

Let's take a little trip through history.
In 1947, the first transistor was demonstrated.
To build our own processor, it's obvious that we'll need transistors... lots of them. All bit-processes can be realized with a series of NAND- and NOR ports, and a couple of invertors (I'm using the inverted AND and OR ports: an AND-switch can only be made by combining a NAND and an invertor, which costs more transistors).
Now... it takes 1006 to add up two 32 bit numbers. Via the Two's Complement-rule, substraction can be added to our 'processor'. Multiplying is just a series of addition sums, division is just a series of substractions.
This is exactly what Intel's 4004-processor, invented in 1971, did (only 4 bits though). The 4004 only had 2300 transistors at a speed of 108 kHz (new P4's have about 55 million transistors...).
The basis for our own 'processor' will be an FPGA, a Field Programmable Gate Array. Current FPGA's contain up to 8 million gates (NAND, NOR and invertors), that is as complex as a Pentium III. The VHDL-language has been designed especially for FPGA-programming.
Source code to build your own 32-bit RISC processor is freely available, and so are chipset-, NIC-, video card-,... codes.

Complicated? Sure. The reason I wrote this is to show that all it takes to build your own hardware is some common electronics and a programming language. The day TCPA becomes the standard, I'm gonna build my own stuff. I won't accept hardware that limits my freedom, or hardware that hands my ass to Big Brother on a plate.

To show you that this really can be done, here's my favourite ever computer (the Commodore 64), completely build using FPGA's (a 2002 enhanced adaptation of the Commodore 64... w00t).
Up yours, Senator Fritz.

This post is based on a Henk van de Kramer-article in PC Active.