Controversy about privacy issues

Controversy about privacy issues

The Pentium III was the first x86 CPU to include a unique, retrievable, identification number, called PSN (Processor Serial Number). A Pentium III's PSN can be read by software through the CPUID instruction if this feature has not been disabled in BIOS.

On November 29, 1999, the Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel (STOA) of the European Parliament, following their report on electronic surveillance techniques asked parliamentary committee members to consider legal measures that would "prevent these chips from being installed in the computers of European citizens."

Eventually Intel decided to remove the PSN feature on Tualatin-based Pentium IIIs, and the feature was not carried through to the Pentium 4 or Pentium M.