Librem13 Protects Privacy

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Purism

Beautiful, Secure, Privacy-Respecting Laptops, Tablets, PCs, and Phones

Latest posts by Purism (see all)

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Introducing the Librem 13, a beautiful, svelte notebook computer built to respect and protect your privacy, security and freedom. It’s the world’s first laptop computer with every feature and application designed specifically around your security and privacy the minute the box is opened. There are no “backdoors” or “mystery code” in the hardware, kernel, operating system or software. Verifiably so. Once the Librem is powered on, there are no additional software applications or utilities required to protect your privacy.

Purism Kill Switches

Innovative slider toggle switches, placed near the Librem’s hinge, ensure that the electrical circuits for Bluetooth, wireless, camera and microphone are physically severed. These hardware kill switches prevent digital adversaries from eavesdropping using the microphone or accessing the camera remotely. Another switch severs the over-the-air connections, reducing the possibility of remote access. On ordinary computers these features – and their purportedly fail-safe LED indicator lights – are activated via software. Malicious entities have already been proven to remotely surreptitiously use these devices while bypassing their LED. With the Librem 13, you have the ability to toggle one, either or both of the hardware kill switches.

“With massive data breaches of users’ private financial information happening seemingly weekly, we cannot afford to trust our most personal data to ordinary computers anymore. This is why we created the Librem, the first truly private personal computer, to protect and respect users’ rights to privacy, security and freedom,” says Purism CEO Todd Weaver.

Verifiably Secure, Assuredly Privacy-Respecting, Fundamentally Freedom-Ensuring Software Pre-Installed

The Librem 13 ships without “mystery code” or proprietary software of any kind, offering users complete transparency into the source code and control over all software.

Purism’s own PureOS is a secure, user-friendly Linux-based OS built using entirely Free/Libre Open Source software (F/LOSS). PureOS ships with hundreds of free software applications, all respecting users’ rights to privacy, security and freedom.

PureOS also included LibreOffice, a F/LOSS office suite, including spreadsheet, word processor, presentation & drawing programs. These programs maintain file compatibility with Microsoft Office, ensuring users will work productively with MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, as well as Adobe PDFs. Maintain workgroup compatibility without a monthly subscription or an always-on network connection.

PureBrowser is provided by default within PureOS, a completely secure and private web browser, is based on the Firefox browser. Also pre-installed on your Librem 13 is the anonymity-preserving Tor browser.

Conventional computers ship with proprietary software pre-installed. These proprietary software updates contain “mystery code” (hidden, proprietary software without source code) or “binary blobs” (compiled binary files without source code). This “mystery code” creates a vulnerability that adversaries, data thieves and criminals can exploit to access your data.

Numerous examples – just from the past year alone – illustrate threats Librem computers will prevent:

• Corporate Exploits – Lenovo, a major Microsoft Windows-based manufacturer, was caught secretly installing the “Superfish” man-in-the-middle malware. All secure communications were intercepted, including user’s bank login credentials.
• Social media – Over 2 million Facebook, Gmail, and Twitter accounts were intercepted from keylogger malware.
• Spying – There have been numerous reports of stalkers remotely activating user’s microphone, webcam, or recording VoIP services.
• Backdoors – Government entities creating software and hardware entry points that other countries – even groups not even feigning to serve a higher purpose – used for their own, nefarious purposes. Even destroying innocent users’ hardware in their attempts to compromise personal computers.
• Data-mining – Third-party and ad trackers gather personal information about users’ browsing habits, selling the information far beyond the limited scope many assumed they’d agreed to.
• Ransomware – Malware such as CryptoLocker and CryptoWall, encrypt users’ drives, forcing them to pay for a decryption key to retrieve their data within days or their hard drive will be “bricked”. Antivirus applications cannot prevent these threats.

These violations are recent. More will follow. Some will be done by nations or politicians you won’t trust as much, if you trust those doing it are doing it now. Inevitably, these techniques be common enough that casual groups will form this threat.

Our lives are digital. It’s how we learn. How we express ourselves, with who, when. Who inspires us. Who we strive to become. Strangers – corporate, governmental or criminal – will no longer entitled to be part of deeply personal process.

Years ago, your computer being compromised by viruses was a routine. No longer.

Some claim “privacy is over, get  over it”. Purism wholeheartedly disagrees.

The days of blindly trusting proprietary mystery code, running on unverified mystery hardware, are done. The days of relying on the protection Purism provides has just begun.

Join us.

Photos, Further Information & Specifications

For complete software and hardware specifications for the Librem 13, please visit the Librem 13 Product Page.