Over a Decade of Warrant Canaries
Purism
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- Over a Decade of Warrant Canaries - September 30, 2026
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It all started with coal miners. Canaries carried into a mine would show signs of toxic gases before humans, therefore alerting the miners to heed this sign and take action. This idea was modified into a Warrant Canary “to implicitly inform its users that the provider has been served with a government subpoena despite legal prohibitions on revealing the existence of the subpoena.” In short: Once published, if there is a disruption to the stated frequency of new canary publication, something may have happened, users may need to heed that sign and may desire to take action. It certainly has its flaws, but is a tool in the security tool belt, and Purism offers this tool.
In 2016, Purism published its first warrant canary. And we cryptographically signed it.
The EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation, NYU Law, Calyx and the Berkman Center launched a year-in-review of its Canary Watch project, deeming it a success—and stopping monitoring efforts of submitted warrant canaries. Purism continued to publish its warrant canaries every quarter for over ten years running.
October 1st, 2026 will be ten years and 3 quarters worth of warrant canaries published by Purism. It is our pleasure! 🙂
Featured image: Canary Bird Nature Tropical, jrperes, Pixabay Content License
Purism Products and Availability Chart
| Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Librem Key (Made in USA) | In Stock ($59+) | 10 business days | |
 | Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics) | In Stock ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 | In Stock ($799+) 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 11 | Out of stock | New Version in Development | |
 | Librem 14 | Out of stock | New Version in Development | |
 | Librem 16 | In Stock ($2,899+) (up to 64GB/16TB) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem Mini | Out of stock | New Version in Development | |
 | Librem Server | In Stock ($2,999+) | 45 business days | |
 | Librem PQC Encryptor | Available Now, contact sales@puri.sm | 90 business days | |
 | Librem PQC Comms Server | Available Now, contact sales@puri.sm | 90 business days |
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