Privacy Is Sacrosanct. FELLOW NERDS OF STEEMIT: Are there alternatives to Purism PC builds? Let's discuss!
"Purism is a freedom-respecting computer manufacturer based in San Francisco, founded in 2014 with the fundamental goal of combining the philosophies of the Free Software movement with the hardware manufacturing process. Purism is a social purpose corporation (SPC) devoted to providing the highest quality hardware available, ensuring the rights of security, privacy, and freedom for all users."
https://puri.sm/
To me, privacy is sacrosanct. As a living, breathing, adult human being, I do not like the thought or idea that I need to be, should be, or could be surveilled. I think that surveillance is neither necessary nor moral. In my opinion, it's extremely regressive, oppressive, demeaning, and well . . . disgusting. The expectation of privacy both in personal life and in communication should be a fundamental human right. It shouldn't be asked for, begged for, or bargained over. It should be inherently just . . . there. Something as normal as breathing air.
Encroaching on an individual's privacy, especially by government, in my eyes, is on par with rape. Not just a one-off instance of rape, but a horrendous and perpetual form of rape that only grows harsher with time like a form of malignant cancer since the simple existence of surveillance gives birth to the precedent that it is "in your best interest."
In my opinion, changing a human's entire perspective from perceived personal liberty to "I am always being monitored and cataloged and there's nothing that I can do about it except submit to the will of this imaginary societal construct that tells me that I have no other choice," is not only a crime against humanity of insurmountable proportions, but is also a form of mental slavery. Straight up mental slavery. It is inhumane.
So what can we do about it? Most people read or hear about surveillance and feel dwarfed by it. They feel like trying to go up against "the man," is futile and they simply lay down. Well, we can and should fight back, and I like to think that most of us in this space are doing just that. Not only for ourselves, but for everyone.
OK! I went on a bit of a rant there for a second. Once I started thinking about it and typing, I went on a bit of a spiel. I'll let it ride, haha.
Anyways! I am in the market for a new daily driver, a new laptop build. I'm extremely picky about my builds and I like to intimately know every possible thing about the machine that I interact with on a daily basis. I get weird about every piece that composes my machine. I want to know about and have the ability to investigate and/or manipulate every line of code that composes any firmware or instruction set of any device that makes my machine a complete system. This is what led me to checking out Purism.
So, those of you with these same or similar ideologies, do you know of any alternatives to Purism? How do you go about ensuring your privacy? How do you navigate the tumultuous waters that are the state of information security these days when it comes to the machine that you use?
Let's have a dialogue!!!
- @matt-a
Kindly consider @agoric.systems for witness.
And you already said it, the users, me, everyone, we are watched by the services of the big companies like google and its applications: Google Maps (timeline), Google Photos, etc.
These companies abuse the ignorance of users and provide incredible services in exchange for information in real time, all by data mining, marketing, etc., as proposed to solve or compete with G Maps, Facebook and others that are outside of a hardware or device in specific.
I would say my friend, your project is really crazy and ambitious, go ahead.
As a user, who lives before a dictatorial system (venezuela) where the miners are persecuted, and soon to all those who use cryptocurrencies, I want to know how I can use it, I am interested in learning.
Check out https://puri.sm/
Their builds are pretty expensive, but from what I can find is pretty much the best, most vetted option at the moment. I'm always on the lookout for something "more," so that's why I made this post, so hopefully someone can expose me to something done better than Purism builds.
So in Venezuela, crypto miners are persecuted?
I'd love to read more details about this. Can you link me to any English information about this?
Waiting for EOS-OS :)
I wish that, that could be my Christmas present :-(.
same here @robrigo ... i hope i can have one,.... hehe
I totally share your point of view. Whatever observation is disgusting. I want to live in a free world, feel free to do the things I like. I'll never be able to do it, if I'm under surveillance. It will not let me relax. I'm not a Guinea pig in a cage to watch me! It is the right of every person, and we must defend it.
This is a good to know concept, really useful for those of us who want the freedom of the privacy.
This brings two points to the table:
1-The bad thing is that things will never change unless we all stick together and force the changes by ourselves and make our world a better place.
2-And the good part, it's more development for our technology (be it hardware or software), which is always good. And also, this brings more awareness.
Thank you for sharing this information with our community.
Purism certainly looks like a good idea and their specs looks adequate for software development and multi-tasking.
Have you seen Qubes OS? I think a combination of that and Purism would be a great step towards vastly improved security and privacy. If you need Windows you can run it in a secured virtual machine in Qubes OS when you need it. Same with any Linux distro or MacOS
More on Qubes OS here: https://steemit.com/qubes-os/@samu-paha/qubes-os-a-reasonably-secure-operating-system
Nice post lol.
Just kidding! Privacy is important especially now when every single app on your laptop or phone wants to know everything you do and use that info for whatever.
On top of that, even if we tried to be vigilant with what we allow apps to do we either end up 1. having to read through pages and pages and pages of TOS (and in the long run end up with no app functionality because we refuse to accept) or 2. unable to use ANY apps because they're all violating our privacy. We're a bit stuck here.
Purism is pretty good, but they aren't really the most cost-effective option if all you want is privacy. It's much better to buy an old laptop, remove the ME, install libreboot, and install a completely free linux distro. You can do that much cheaper than a Purism laptop, although obviously the specs of the machine wont be very good.
I get where you're coming from, but Purism goes quite a bit deeper than that. The firmware that lives on most of the components that compose the device are open source. Old laptops, etc still have the fatal flaw of being products of closed-source billion dollar corporations that cooperate with government at the drop of a hat. Plus with Purism, you're getting physical kill switches as well which is pretty cool. I haven't seen any other manufacturers touting things like that. We need more competition in this space . . .
I really hope that the actual meaning of Democracy is practiced by the people who actually agreed to it's system. If the Government is a people let them also respect other people's privacy. Generally, there would be a time when the whole network would become decentralized and they may not control communication and information. It's happening already!
Excellent article @matt-a and in my opinion confidentiality has been and remains the most important factor for most people, including myself. After all, without the limitations of personal information, a person actually becomes defenseless and vulnerable in many ways.
Thanks. Fully agreed. If a person feels like they always have something looming over their shoulder, watching their every move, it robs them of the ability to enjoy life or to feel comfortable.