What's the point of protected memory, especially when using VM extensions, and particularly with regards to SGX, if the architecture is implemented in such a way that unprivileged software can read the entire contents of memory and there's no way for software, either the kernel or the processing software, to prevent it? You can make a tortured, pedantic argument defending Intel if we disregard VM-x and SGX, that memory protection was originally intended only to prevent data corruption, not confidentiality, but at the end of the day all such an argument does is emphasize the deliberate choices Intel made to sacrifice confidentiality for performance. And those choices are all the more unforgivable considering Intel's primary motivation for taking these performance short cuts were to expand into and secure their dominance of the VM and cloud hosting market; a market predicated on the ability of their architecture having the nominal capability to ensure data confidentiality.