Intel Corp. introduced last year a new technology that allows authorized personnel to power up and repair turned-off PCs within the corporate network at virtually any time, in emergency situations, like when the computer suffered a major meltdown, caused by a failure of the operating system or by a virus that crashed the hard drive.

At the time, the technology was highly praised, receiving impressive reviews from computer professionals, that characterized it as a fundamental change in the way work PCs are repaired, updated and administered.

But the computer industry giant won't stop here. Their dream is to see consumers everywhere signing up for a service that allows their Internet providers to automatically install security applications, upgrades and patches, whether the PC is turned on or not.

They say that the end user won't have to worry about troubleshooting and constantly updating software, and that they will receive an alert with a detailed record of the fixes performed while the computer was turned off, as soon as they will turn it on.

The company says that they're not worried about the obvious privacy and security concerns raised by opening a new remote access channel into the PC, and are confident that the consumers will prefer the advantages of not having to worry about the actual maintenance of their stations, over the question of privacy.

"The technology itself is privacy-neutral - it doesn't know who you are, it doesn't really care what you do," said Mike Ferron-Jones, director of digital office platform marketing at Intel. "Any policy decisions about what a user can do in a business environment with their PC, those are up to the business owner. (Active Management Technology) does not facilitate those policies in any way."

Right, and cellphones aren't tracked via satellite without legal authorization, and hackers never get inside NASA and Pentagon servers and all the surveillance cameras on the streets, around shops and inside ATMs are just there to protect the citizens...