Programmer/activist Seth Schoen will conduct a free all-day technical tutorial on trusted computing technologies at Mountain View's Freedom Technology Center on January 24, 2004.

So-called trusted computing technologies have raised a tremendous amount of controversy. They have been condemned as Orwellian and promoted as a means of stopping the ravages of computer viruses and limiting the power of intruders.

The class will explain in depth how trusted computing technologies actually work, drawing from published and proposed source code and specifications. Students will gain the ability both to interact and interoperate with trusted computing technologies and to understand the privacy and business threats that trusted computing poses.

Seth Schoen, Staff Technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is uniquely qualified to conduct the tutorial. He wrote "Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk", EFF's report on trusted computing, following briefings from industry and academic experts on all sides of trusted computing.

To register or to find for more information, visit the Freedom Technology Center Web site. This class is free of charge, but space is limited and pre-registration is required.

The Freedom Technology Center is a new non-profit IT training facility located in downtown Mountain View, California. The center recently was the site of the first public demonstration of the first all-open-source system on a chip from OpenCores developer Damjan Lampret.

Starting on February 9, 2004, the Freedom Technology Center will host a newly updated series of Linux certification classes to prepare students for the Linux Professional Institute exams, taught by noted author and consultant Jim Dennis.