+- Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora)
+-- Forum: Deep Politics Forum (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-1.html)
+--- Forum: Science and Technology (https://deeppoliticsforum.com/fora/forum-11.html)
+--- Thread: virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available (/thread-14192.html)
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Peter Lemkin - 08-10-2015
https://www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-15
Your Privacy Is Protected Chip By Chip
Every hardware chip individually selected for being freedom-respecting
![[Image: exploded-view-librem-13-v2-700x476.png]](https://www.crowdsupply.com/img/8522/exploded-view-librem-13-v2-700x476.png)
All other laptops use hardware chips coupled with software that can betray you. News stories have shown how these chips can surreptitiously transmit voice, networking, picture or video signals. Other chips are used to install spyware, malware or viruses. These built-in vulnerabilities can turn "your" computer into "their" computer. Only by selecting each and every chip in our Librem laptops can we guarantee your privacy, security and freedom are protected.Librem 15: A Laptop That Respects Your Rights
Librem Laptop Rev2
Ships October 2015
$1,874
Free US Shipping!
Free US Shipping!
![[Image: librem-15-700x3001_png_product-icon.jpg]](https://www.crowdsupply.com/img/9f0b/librem-15-700x3001_png_product-icon.jpg){kind=icon}
Memory 4GB (1x4GB) 8GB (1x8GB) (+$100.00) 16GB (2x8GB) (+$250.00) 32GB (2x16GB) (+$650.00)
Storage 500GB HD 1TB HD (+$50.00) 250GB SSD (+$150.00) 500GB SSD (+$275.00) 1TB SSD (+$450.00)
M.2 (NGFF) PCIe SSD None 250 GB (2x - 10Gbit/s) (+$199.00) 500 GB (2x - 10Gbit/s) (+$299.00) 512 GB (4x - 20Gbit/s) (+$495.00)
Hardware Kill Switches None Yes (+$89.00)
Screen Full HD (1920x1080) Ultra HD (3840x2160) (+$310.00)
Hardware Specifications
The Librem 15 is the first high-end laptop where you are in control and have complete visibility into the kernel, the operating system, and all software. Meticulously designed chip by chip to work with free/libre and open source software, the Librem reinstates your rights to freedom and privacy. We hand selected the best hardware that still honors our strict beliefs:
- RF, Mic & Camera Hardware Kill Switch
- 15.6" display 1920 x 1080 (a 4K display (3840 x 2160) is available). 60Hz refresh rate.
- Intel i7-5557U CPU, 3.0GHz, Dual Core (4 Threads)
- Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6100
- 14 x 9.6 x 0.86" weighing 4.4lbs (375 x 244 x 22mm weighing 2.0Kg)
- 4GB Mem (up to 32GB)
- 500GB HD (up to 1TB HD or 1TB SSD)
- 48 Wh lithium polymer battery
- 65W power adapter
- Up to 6 hours usage
- One USB 3.1 & two USB 3.0 ports
- One HDMI 2.0 port
- 802.11n WiFi (ath9k)
- 720p camera
- HD Audio
- Headphone Jack
- Full-size keyboard in a variety of languages
- Aluminum enclosure body
- SDXC card slot
- Purism PureOS 64-bit Operating System
Purism is manufacturing the motherboard, and screen printing the keyboard. Purism is sourcing the case, daughter cards, memory, drives, battery, camera, and screen.
Upgradable
As shown in the video above, the HDD/SSD, RAM, wireless chipset, and battery are all accessible after unscrewing the bottom of the case. All these components are easily replaceable or upgradable.
Keyboard
The Librem 15 keyboard comes in a wide variety of language layouts. See the "keyboard" drop-down menu in any of the pledge levels to the right for a full listing of the available languages.
Power Adapter
The Librem 15 laptop comes with the power adapter pictured below. As input, the power adapter takes up to 1.6A at 100-240V and 50-60Hz. As output, the power adapter provides up to 3.4A at 19V. The power adapter plug is available in EU, UK, and US styles and can be easily swapped out by the end user.
Warranty
Every Librem 15 laptop comes with a company-backed, two-year parts and labor warranty. We currently have one warranty facility in South San Francisco, however we are also considering and pursuing distribution and warranty repair within certain other countries.
Software Specifications
Bundled with the fully free/libre, no mystery software Trisquel GNU/Linux operating system, with free/libre professional quality web browser, email, graphics, drawing, word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and media software, users can easily replace their existing computer. Since it is a GNU-based distribution, users can add hundreds of thousands of free/libre and open source applications easily.
Painstakingly selecting every single component that goes into the Librem 15 laptop, Purism ensures they all will operate with free/libre and open source software within the kernel, the operating system, and all software applications.
What About Installing a Different OS?
Since we are using Trisquel GNU/Linux, which is the strictest of distributions and strips all binary blobs from the Linux kernel, you can easily install anything less strict, such as Debian and Ubuntu. We have not yet tried installing a non-GNU/Linux-based operating system.
What About the BIOS and firmware?
Though the bootloader, Linux kernel, GNU OS, and all software applications are completely free/libre software without any binary blobs, the BIOS does use coreboot, which includes a binary from Intel, called FSP. Here is a diagram that summarizes which components are free/libre and which aren't.
While the BIOS is not yet free, the Librem 15 will be the first laptop ever manufactured to ship a modern Intel CPU fused to run unsigned BIOS code, allowing for a future where free software can replace the proprietary, digitally signed BIOS binaries. This marks one of the largest hurdles to a laptop that runs 100% free software and firmware. Recognizing the importance of this critical step toward consumer freedom, Dr. Richard M. Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), states:
"Getting rid of the signature checking is an important step. While it doesn't give us free code for the firmware, it means that users will really have control of the firmware once we get free code for it." - Dr. Richard M. Stallman
In addition to enabling as above the development of free BIOS firmware, we are also working with Intel to allow us to scrub, release, and maintain the source for the FSP, but haven't finalized that yet. We are devoted to freeing this binary. You can read here about the current state of our efforts to free the BIOS.There are also hardware components, like the HD or SSD, that are flashable, and therefore upgradeable, but that currently run firmware that is not yet freed. We are working to get freed versions of this firmware! Being the first manufacturer to care about freedom and privacy, we are making a lot of progress upstream.
Beautiful Freedom.
We believe in users' rights!
The Purism Librem 15 is the first high-end laptop in the world that ships without mystery software in the kernel, operating system, or any software applications. Every other consumer-grade laptop you can purchase comes with an operating system that includes suspect, proprietary software, and there's no way for you to know what that software does.
Every chip in the hardware, every line of code in the software, everything we do, is done with our belief in respecting your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. We know you will be happy with the results!
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Lauren Johnson - 08-10-2015
Not that I would know one way or the other. But this could be a honey trap.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Albert Doyle - 08-10-2015
Or Intel has perfected ways outside your laptop of achieving the same thing.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Magda Hassan - 08-10-2015
Lauren Johnson Wrote:Not that I would know one way or the other. But this could be a honey trap.
That's the beauty of Open Source software and hardware. You can see if it is a honey trap. Everything is transparent. Any one can see what is happening and how it functions. With the closed proprietary systems with all their back doors etc we have no idea and can only assume they are. indeed are verified to be. That's why they are working so hard on the BIOS and creating an open source one as that is the last piece that is closed. Every computer has one. The easiest step is to use a Linux operating system on your computer and ditch Windows and Apple.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Peter Lemkin - 09-10-2015
Lauren Johnson Wrote:Not that I would know one way or the other. But this could be a honey trap.
Look at what reviews it has gotten from advocates of open-source and anti-spyware advocates. As Magda has stated, open-source allows techies to see exactly what is going on and to test it for bugs and traps. The company admits that the only thing they haven't been able to find yet that is certified spy-free is the BIOS, but they expect to soon and send a free upgrade to anyone with one. I don''t believe this is a 'honey trap' or I'd not have posted it. I build my own computers, so know my way around them.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Lauren Johnson - 09-10-2015
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Lauren Johnson Wrote:Not that I would know one way or the other. But this could be a honey trap.
Look at what reviews it has gotten from advocates of open-source and anti-spyware advocates. As Magda has stated, open-source allows techies to see exactly what is going on and to test it for bugs and traps. The company admits that the only thing they haven't been able to find yet that is certified spy-free is the BIOS, but they expect to soon and send a free upgrade to anyone with one. I don''t believe this is a 'honey trap' or I'd not have posted it. I build my own computers, so know my way around them.
Peter, I was "just sayin".
Looks like a great computer for those who need something like this. I have already sent off the link to one of those people. Like you say, the BIOS is critical. I know someone who was working with generic Chinese circuit boards. She said that they strangely kept trying to "phone home" when they did not have any apparent commands to communicate with any other computer. "It was in the BIOS."
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Peter Lemkin - 09-10-2015
Lauren Johnson Wrote:Peter Lemkin Wrote:Lauren Johnson Wrote:Not that I would know one way or the other. But this could be a honey trap.
Look at what reviews it has gotten from advocates of open-source and anti-spyware advocates. As Magda has stated, open-source allows techies to see exactly what is going on and to test it for bugs and traps. The company admits that the only thing they haven't been able to find yet that is certified spy-free is the BIOS, but they expect to soon and send a free upgrade to anyone with one. I don''t believe this is a 'honey trap' or I'd not have posted it. I build my own computers, so know my way around them.
Peter, I was "just sayin".
Looks like a great computer for those who need something like this. I have already sent off the link to one of those people. Like you say, the BIOS is critical. I know someone who was working with generic Chinese circuit boards. She said that they strangely kept trying to "phone home" when they did not have any apparent commands to communicate with any other computer. "It was in the BIOS."
I'm not aware that the BIOS can be used to exploit, but I could be wrong. In any case this is the best laptop for protection you can buy now [as far as I know], unless you build your own. They are going to soon replace the BIOS. A computer like this PLUS active anti-spyware anti-hacking software measures should really keep down any threats or exploits and maintain privacy. If one were to encrypt things in the HDD on the fly, then it really would be secure. Nothing is ever going to be 100% exploit proof...but this is light years ahead of what you buy off the shelf in computer shops! One needs to be aware of other hardware that one might connect to [such as a router] that could be exploitable.....computer security in this time of Universal Electronic Spying is not for the faint of heart. One either has to do a LOT of research or rely on others who have. Learning how to encrypt emails and other communications is another step that must be learned for secure messages. Getting rid of or lessening the use of your smartphone is another step. They are more dangerous than computers for the most part. They can be turned on to listen to you and track you position even when you think it is off. They can be read in full when you walk or drive past stations mounted all over cities and on highways. There are even spoof cell towers run by intel agencies and police to make your phone think it is connecting to your network provider.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Magda Hassan - 09-10-2015
Peter Lemkin Wrote:If one were to encrypt things in the HDD on the fly, then it really would be secure.Most Linux OS variants are very good at encryption. You can encrypt the whole hard drive or particular folders. Maybe Mac and Windows can do this too these days but I don't see the point in encrypting an already compromised system.
Peter Lemkin Wrote:One either has to do a LOT of research or rely on others who have. Learning how to encrypt emails and other communications is another step that must be learned for secure messages.Yes, learn from others. Here is a good start https://prism-break.org/en/ Those involved in this area are aware not every one is a computer guru so they are designing more and more for general users.
PGP or GPG is available as an add on to Thunderbird mail client. And there are good videos on it in various places. https://securityinabox.org/en/guide/thunderbird/windows
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Getting rid of or lessening the use of your smartphone is another step.
Give the iPhone a complete miss. Mozilla, who take your privacy seriously and use open source software, now have their own Operating System for mobile phones https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/os/1.3/ And very affordable too. Or you can get an Android. Then de Googlefy it and strip out the operating system and install clean open source for you phone model here: https://download.cyanogenmod.org/ or here: http://www.replicant.us/supported-devices.php and get your apps from here: https://f-droid.org/ or you can still have a Google Play add on for the new software above. Also there are whole suites of software designed by cryptogeeks https://whispersystems.org/ and https://guardianproject.info/ They are easy to use and install even non geeks.
virtually SPY PROOF LAPTOP now available - Peter Lemkin - 09-10-2015
I think most know that software can be hacked or have a 'back door' built into it; few are aware that most [not all] hardware is similarly compromised. The least dangerous just feeds information on your computer and what you are doing to the company that made the part for their own design/re-design database. However, some hardware is built to transmit everything you do, everywhere you are, all that is in your computer to those who designed the exploit! Beware....especially with laptops outside of your home...but even on a desktop or laptop inside too! It is not easy to defeat what the NSA and GCHQ (and their worldwide partners) can now do...but one can go a long way to making it too much trouble for them to bother.
Another very nice feature of this nice looking laptop is it is built for upgrading by the owner easily. One can take out nearly every part and replace them when better, newer, more powerful parts come on the market - or you need them. Most laptops are very difficult to change things in. Not this one. They are not looking to sell you another one in a few years...but to sell you one that will last for a decade or two. They also had a limited edition [sold out for now] made of hardwood rather than metal...looks nice, but was not as sleek as this one.