Purism Differentiator Series, Part 7: Freedoms

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Todd Weaver

Founder and CEO
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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 7: Freedoms

Being in control allows you to have freedom, if you are under the control of another you are not free. If you use a phone from Apple or run Google Android, you are under the control of those companies, they are able to update or change or monitor your phone without your knowledge nor consent. This is the opposite of freedom. At Purism we recognize freedom as a fundamental right of humanity—and should be able to retain your freedom even in the digital age. We have made it so when you buy and use our products that you have complete control and therefore your freedoms remain intact. Purism does not control you with its products, it liberates you and you are able to do whatever you wish to do—with Purism you are truly free.

Freedom from Clicking “I Agree” with Purism Products

Purism’s Librem 5 phone, Liberty Phone, Librem Mini PC, Librem 14 laptop, and Librem 11 tablet all run PureOS, and PureOS does not require you to click “I Agree” to accept intrusive terms of service (the ones that take away your rights). As a matter of fact Purism customers do not have to click “I Agree” to any terms of service because the customer owns the product.

Freedom from Control and Harm

Don’t track people, don’t retain useless data, respect freedom, don’t control people. Supporting products and companies that protect your freedoms, put you in complete control, and work to eliminate harm which creates a better society.

Purism’s Digital Bill of Rights

Purism authored a Digital Bill of Rights that lists 5 rights that products, services, and software must offer people. 1. Right to Change Providers;
2. Right to Protect Personal Data; 3. Right to Verify; 4. Right not to be Tracked; 5. Right to Access. Purism works hard daily to make sure that everything we do adheres to our Digital Bill of Rights because we believe this is the best way to secure your individual freedom now and into the future.

Freedom is Essential to Security and Privacy

Freedom, security, and privacy are interrelated. The relationship between these three concepts is more obvious in some cases than others. For instance, most people would recognize that privacy is an important part of freedom. The link between privacy and security is also pretty strong, since often you rely on security (encryption, locked doors) to protect your privacy. The link between freedom and security may be less obvious than the others. The reality is that freedom, security, and privacy are not just interrelated, they are interdependent. In this post we describe in greater detail and analyze the link between these three concepts and in particular how freedom strengthens security and privacy with real world examples.

Don’t Give Up Control

To understand why Purism smartphones with PureOS are secure by putting you in control, one must understand the difference between PureOS and Android OS, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows. The real difference comes down to control. Do you give up control and suffer consumer oppression and loss of your privacy? Or do you want to retain control and have consumer freedom and your privacy?

We Want to Be Free

What we all want is pretty simple: We want individual freedom. We want peace of mind that we are safe. We want to control our own digital lives. We want to be free.

What we don’t want is equally simple: We don’t want to be spied on, controlled, oppressed, forced nor exploited.

A video and post goes into greater detail on providing what we all want and the challenges faced when competing against tech giants.

Funding Freedom

Free software isn’t free. Free software geeks love to correct people by saying that the “free” in “free software” refers to freedom (libre), not cost (gratis). We even join in this word play at Purism by naming our laptops Librem–a combination of the words libre (freedom) and librum (book). Whether free software is written as a labor of love in someone’s free time or written as part of someone’s full-time job, even if the developer doesn’t charge for the software the cost to make it is still there. In this post we talk about why Purism funds free software through hardware, and why we didn’t take some of the other popular approaches.

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