More than A Phone: How Purism Advocates Digital Security
Purism
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Founded in 2014 by Todd Weaver, Purism started with the drive to have a secure future by honoring and protecting digital rights and privacy. Today, Purism is a powerful example of a founder-led Social Purpose Corporation that continues to keep digital rights and privacy at the core of its design. Its portfolio of technology products offer a market-based solution to provide alternatives to big technology companies. Big Tech’s profitability is dependent on “locking-in” its users and establishing monopolistic structures. “For the good of society as a whole, we must defend freedom in our computing and telecommunication systems to prevent centralization of information and power.” said Nicole Faerber, Chief Technology Officer at Purism.
The Digital Bill of Rights
Purism supports your right to protect yourself online. This is the foundation of our Digital Bill of Rights which defines what ‘good’ means to us. We purposefully went about creating both software and hardware that was ethically-built, safe, and secure. We want to create “goods” for the society and be an important example of collaborative capitalism in action. For Purism, security is not an after-thought, it is the starting point of thinking about design. “Our products, beliefs, and innovations are helping people protect their digital life by default” said Todd Weaver.
Start with Secure Hardware
“You have to start with hardware to properly fix the problems.” Weaver said. His vision was to build hardware that respected a users’ essential freedoms and privacy. It was a purpose mindfully designed by Purism, standing by the belief system that users should be able to control the security settings of the device, based on their use cases. This is why Weaver started the company with crowdfunding a 15-inch laptop with a quarter million-dollar funding goal.
Over the years, Purism has developed several products, with emphasis on keeping its users secure. Purism products come with unique hardware kill switches to physically disconnect the camera and mic (including the headphone jack mic) or wireless and Bluetooth. Our products are modular, and come with non-soldered, easily serviceable batteries that you can order. This helps you keep your phone as long as you want, save money in the long run and help the planet by avoiding e-junk. Our devices are for anybody and everybody interested in protecting their data, communicating privately to your loved ones, or supporting a future of protecting our digital rights.
Librem 14, is an ultra-portable workstation laptop that was designed chip-by-chip, line-by-line, to respect your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. With an Intel processor you get years of coreboot development and a disabled Intel Management engine. Energy efficient Intel UHD Graphics are powerful enough for resource heavy uses like 4K video, light graphics processing and 3D gaming. Several features make this the most secure computing experience. We use auditable, free software firmware wherever possible. Additionally, we give you an easy way to detect software and hardware tampering with PureBoot and the Librem Key. We also offer QubesOS as a pre-installed, supported, alternative OS for extra security.
Librem 5, our flagship security-first phone, does not wholesale gather your data for profit. It will not lock you into an ecosystem that controls you. It will not require you to enter banking details to simply get an app from an app store. It gives you the peace of mind that you are not being compromised or tracked without your permission. If you care about where your electronics are made, we have the Librem 5 USA, which is transparent about where the parts of the phone are sourced from.
The Librem Mini is small, light and energy efficient. It offers a portable and secure computing option for those on the go.
Secure and Auditable Software that You Can Trust
Software is the life-blood of any hardware. Over the years, the Purism team has invested its time to develop software that respects digital rights. All the source code is available for audit, and you can tightly integrate whatever configuration you or your enterprise requires.
PureOS: A Debian-based 100% free software truly convergent operating system developed and maintained by Purism. It is an Operating System that is not based on Android or iOS. Purism’s PureOS was also where all the development occurred for what we later pushed into GNOME; phosh, phoc, libhandy (now libadwaita), squeekboard, calls, chats, and the long list of adaptive applications. Other companies are adopting PureOS as their base OS for other services. Purism’s Librem One is built on PureOS, initially a reference platform. In the future, it will see tighter integration into PureOS and the Librem line of products.
An Ecosystem that supports Freedom, Security and Privacy
With the support of its backers, Purism has created a sophisticated portfolio of digitally responsible, high-quality, and safe products, services, and tech add-ons that allow people the freedom and choice to ‘opt-in’ to features of Big Tech and keep them isolated. Purism’s impact can be reflected beyond the number of products or people, it is a movement that builds a future of technology that respects people.
Among service add-ons, Purism offers AweSIM and SIMple, so you can power your unlocked phone with a cellular plan that protects your privacy. Currently available only in the US, Purism designed it so its customers can enjoy peace of mind that big telecom is not collecting and selling their personal data. “Most companies think data is gold, and that’s why they are double-dipping from their paying customers to monetize customer data. We think data is uranium. We collect the minimum amount of customer data necessary to provide a service, and get rid of it once we no longer need it.” explains Kyle Rankin, Chief Security Officer at Purism.
Security, Convenience AND Control
“It is always about convenience and control, it is currently convenient to use products that control you, and until there is a convenient alternative where you retain your freedom and control, society will continue to suffer from digital rights oppression. We are continuing to build that future with the support of millions and growing.” says Weaver. The long-term goal of Purism is to make beautiful convenient products that respect the rights of humans. The ‘convenient’ part of that continues to be a major investment we make. In a world that wants to track every move you make, it’s important to have alternatives that protect your privacy, we hope you choose wisely!
Purism Products and Availability Chart
| Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Librem Key (Made in USA) | In Stock ($59+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 5 | In Stock ($699+) 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 COMSEC Bundle | In Stock ($1299+) Qty 2; 3GB/32GB | 10 business days | |
| Liberty Phone (Made in USA Electronics) | Backorder ($1,999+) 4GB/128GB | Estimated fulfillment February | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple (3 GB Data) | In Stock ($99/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + SIMple Plus (5 GB Data) | In Stock ($129/mo) | 10 business days | |
| Librem 5 + AweSIM (Unlimited Data) | In Stock ($169/mo) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 11 | In Stock ($999+) 8GB/1TB | 10 business days | |
 | Librem 14 | Backorder ($1,370+) | Estimated fulfillment December | |
 | Librem Mini | Backorder ($799+) | 10 business days | |
 | Librem Server | In Stock ($2,999+) | 45 business days |
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