According to Microsoft, a flood of FUD -- spooky rumors intended to cause fear, uncertainty and doubt -- are swirling around its Next Generation Secure Computing Base.

Also known as Palladium, NGSCB is comprised of new software and hardware that will work in tandem to protect users' data from malicious hackers, viruses and spyware.

NGSCB software components debuted last week at the Windows Developers Conference and Microsoft plans to include the software in the next version of the Windows XP operating system, code-named Longhorn and slated for release in 2005. NGSCB-ready hardware should be available in the latter half of 2004.

Privacy advocates warn that NGSCB can, and probably will, be abused by content providers to enforce draconian copyright protections. But Microsoft representatives insist these worries are rooted in an incomplete and incorrect understanding of what NGSCB is and can do.

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