Web users value their anonymity more than safe transactions.
Intel developed the new feature to help make e-commerce transactions safer. Instead of garnering public support, the chip has raised the ire of privacy watchdog groups. Each new chip has a unique processor serial number that would enable online merchants to confirm individual users' identities. Privacy groups criticized the new technology, fearing the embedded serial numbers could be used by online marketers to track computer users' movements and spending habits on the Internet. Some groups fear that governments can use the technology to keep tabs on people as they surf the Web.