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Comment by tptacek

If they were "entirely" ethical (which is a silly concept but it's already been deployed on this thread so I'll run with it), they'd be more up-front about the features and limitations of their security model. So:

* Modern phones (and all the flagship phones) have had separation between their basebands and APs for years; a modern smartphone baseband is essentially a USB peripheral.

* The two largest smartphone vendors have large, world-class security teams that do things like audit their basebands. Has Purism?

* A modern flagship smartphone will have some kind of secure enclave. Apple's has dedicated silicon, and an encrypted memory bus linking it to the AP. How does Purism's hardware security model compare?

* I don't know how much Apple and Google spend annually on outside security research for their flagship phones, but it's a lot. Who has Purism engaged to evaluate their designs and spot flaws?

If you want to use a niche phone as a fashion or political statement, more power to you. But if you try to market that phone as "transparent code is the core of secure systems", I'll take issue with that; it's neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for security.

This phone may very well be more "fair" or "ethical" than an iPhone. But if it's not as secure as an iPhone, it's unethical to claim otherwise.

parent tptacek 8 years ago

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