“Rule number one, never carry anything you don’t control.”

On using networked computers you don't understand.

“Rule number one, never carry anything you don’t control.” (See Andor.)

How would one follow this advice in this world?

One would need only computers with a 100% open source stack. Including hardware.

Imagine starting with a mass-produced phone-sized touchscreen and battery that contained zero processors. You would then build a computer that plugs into that and screws onto the back. That would be your smartphone. You control all processors.

Imagine a RaspberryPi-Zero-style RISC-V computer that was 100% open on every integrated circuit. you could use that as the core of your fully-secure smartphone.

You would need to reverse-engineer a bunch of currently-opaque hardware that's hidden in special-purpose chips. E.g. cell network antenna drivers.

I would also build the hardware such that a led lights up whenever a camera or microphone is enabled, without the ability to change that in software.

And the software stack would need to be controlled by a non-profit with a long history of respecting users. Maybe Debian? I'd love just to have a phone that runs Debian!

It looks like there are several raspberryPi-based phone designs out there. My main problem with that is that it uses processors made by Broadcom Inc. These system-on-a-chip processors are wonderful technology, but the hardware is closed-source, and has closed-source firmware and graphics drivers.

Discuss: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@hal_canary/109710865869979581