Intel Discovers Serial-Number Error

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March 11, 1999 (12:00 AM EST)

By Marcia Savage ,

Intel discovered a manufacturing error produced a prototype of its controversial processor serial number in some of its newer chips for notebooks.

An Intel spokeswoman said the company found the prototype serial number in some 366-MHz and 333-MHz mobile Pentium II chips with 256 kilobytes of integrated cache and 266-MHz and 300-MHz Celeron processors. All of those chips were introduced Jan. 25.

A design error in the manufacturing process of those chips caused prototype circuitry of the processor serial number to be left activated in the mobile-module package version of the chips, the spokeswoman said.

The chip maker, based in Santa Clara, Calif., contacted its customers with a BIOS update to disable the prototype, and products shipping today do not contain it, according to Intel.

The prototype can produce a numeric value, but unlike the processor serial number may not be an individual identification number. The spokeswoman said a customer recently found the prototype during a normal testing process.

The processor serial number, introduced with the Pentium III last month, has drawn heavy criticism from privacy advocates, who say the unique identification number will erode Internet privacy and make it easier for companies to track individual users.

Three groups last month launched a boycott of Intel products. Privacy and consumer groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the Pentium III. In response to privacy concerns, Intel said it would ship the Pentium III with the security feature automatically disabled unless the user turns it on via a software utility.