Purism Differentiator Series, Part 14: Surveillance Capitalism

• About
• Latest Posts

Todd Weaver

Founder and CEO
PGP Fingerprint: B8CA ACEA D949 30F1 23C4 642C 23CF 2E3D 2545 14F7

Latest posts by Todd Weaver (see all)

• Hardware Encrypted COMSEC Bundle by Purism - April 29, 2024
• Purism Differentiator Series, Part 14: Surveillance Capitalism - April 23, 2024
• Purism Differentiator Series, Part 13: Modularity & Right to Repair - April 23, 2024

Welcome to Purism, a different type of technology company.

We believe you should have technology that does not spy on you.
We believe you should have complete control over your digital life.
We advocate for personal privacy, cyber security, and individual freedoms.
We sell hardware, develop software, and provide services according to these beliefs.
To do all that, we think differently across all areas of business and technology.

Purism Differentiator Series, Part 14: Surveillance Capitalism

Purism is an ardent defender of personal privacy, strong security, and civil liberties. Surveillance Capitalism where the user is the product and their data is extracted by all means available runs polar opposite of Purism’s stated social purpose mission. With Purism products you have complete control of the device, the software, and the services that run on your device. The default values that Purism provides are designed to protect you, giving you peace of mind that you are in control of your digital life.

Featured in a Feature Film

David Cummings from Orpheum Films shared a brief story about why he desired the Liberty Phone from Purism for the film: “When choosing a smartphone for our main character, we were putting ourselves in his shoes: an elite soldier educated on security who knows the pitfalls of mass surveillance phones, he would naturally choose a phone that is discreet, reliable, and that protects his data, as made visible by the kill switches that make it undetectable by nefarious parties. Being made in the USA, a strong military ally of France, would also make it a natural choice for a Legionnaire.”

Purism is Different

Purism does not buy, sell, nor gather personal identifying information when using any of our products. Big Tech companies collect items such as: Where you go, what you buy, name, address, apps you use, contacts, political points of view, age, sex, race, skills, education, interests, things you hate, pregnancy status, where you grew up, religion, websites, search results, dwell time, just to name a few. More examples are available from our post about Nasty Software.

No Terms of Service, No Clicking “I Agree”

In a post titled No Terms of Use Required! we share a story: Think back to your last cellphone setup. One of the first things you do is accept a bunch of End User License Agreements. It begs the question, why do you need terms of use for a device you purchased? Shouldn’t you own and control what is done with your device, not the device manufacturer and app creators dictating terms to you?

With Purism you do not click “I Agree” to any terms of service to use our devices. It is remarkable and worth noting, because we do not need a terms of service because you own the device and we do not participate in any part of surveillance capitalism.

Avoid “Advertiser ID”

Apple and Google profess to care about the privacy rights of their customers, but their operating systems tell a different story. iOS and Android both allow for pervasive tracking of users through Advertiser IDs. Google uses a version is known as GAID (Google Advertiser Identification) and Apple uses its version called IDFA (Identifier For Advertisers).

At Purism we do not include any “Advertiser ID” and do not fund nor participate in the Surveillance that it forces on customers.

Avoiding Complete Surveillance

In Why the Total Dossier on Everybody Must Stop we discuss: where people go, what people do, and who talks to whom, should be kept private.

There is a total dossier on everybody, and you are likely a willing, yet oppressed, participant. Willing because of how convenient it is; oppressed, because everything you do is under the complete control of others.

Purism Products and Availability Chart

	Model	Status	Lead Time
	Librem Key (Made in USA)	In Stock ($59+)	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 5	In Stock ($699+) 3GB/32GB	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 5 COMSEC Bundle	In Stock ($1299+) Qty 2; 3GB/32GB	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics)	Backorder ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB	Estimated fulfillment February	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 5 + SIMple (3 GB Data)	In Stock ($99/mo)	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 5 + SIMple Plus (5 GB Data)	In Stock ($129/mo)	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 5 + AweSIM (Unlimited Data)	In Stock ($169/mo)	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 11	In Stock ($999+) 8GB/1TB	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem 14	Backorder ($1,370+)	Estimated fulfillment December	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem Mini	Backorder ($799+)	10 business days	Learn More Buy Now
	Librem Server	In Stock ($2,999+)	45 business days	Learn More Buy Now