The Silicon Valley Matrix Has You…
Like the movie the Matrix, internet end users have been enslaved to produce highly valuable information by the very tech giants the internet end user patronizes with their trust, loyalty, and hard-earned money.
Over the past 20 plus years the internet has been centralized for commercial purposes by a handful of tech monopolies who are responsible for the development of intrusive operating systems and apps that support billions of connected products such as smartphones and PCs.
These intrusive operating systems and apps are purposely designed to enable the developers to monitor, track, data mine, and exploit the end user for profits whether the end user is an adult, teen, child, or business end user.
These intrusive operating systems and apps have turned smartphones, connected products, and PCs into data sponges that enable the developers to collect highly confidential personal and business information from the paying customer and/or end user.
The valuable end user information is then used, shared, or sold for profits without compensating the paying customer for the use of their valuable information which is considered the “New Oil” for the 21st century.
These tech giants do not view their product owners and/or end users as paying customers, but rather products to be exploited for financial gain even at the expense of the paying customer’s security, privacy, safety, and civil liberties.
Once the paying customer clicks on “I Agree” to accept the predatory terms of service that supports their connected products such as a smartphone, the paying customer is then enslaved by the centralized internet that could be described as the “Silicon Valley Matrix”.
Google, Apple, & Microsoft control access to the internet through centralization by way of the Android OS, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows OS which supports billions of smartphones, tablet PCs, connected products, wearable tech, IoT/IIoT devices, and PCs.
The gateway to the internet goes the operating system which means that Google, Apple, and Microsoft control access to the internet due to their monopoly over connected products that support the Android OS, Apple iOS, or Microsoft Windows.
Over the past twenty plus years, Google, Apple, and Microsoft are responsible for the centralization of the internet which means that these three multinational corporations have commercialized every aspect of the internet for financial gain.
In other words, these tech giants have monetized every aspect of the Android OS, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows end user’s life through the use of intrusive apps that enable the developer to collect highly valuable and confidential end user information.
Multinational corporations such as Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Amazon, ByteDance (TikTok/Lemmon8), Twitter, and others must pay Google, Apple, and Microsoft billions of dollars annually to have their apps preinstalled into billions of smartphones, tablet PCs, connected products, and PCs in order to control access to the internet.
The control over the operating system that supports billions of connected products enables Google, Apple, and Microsoft to control access to the internet enabling them to monopolize internet trade and commerce through preinstalled and 3-party apps distributed through app stores.
The preinstalled app in particular enables Google, Apple, and Microsoft the ability to control competition by selling access to the Android OS, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows end user to other multinational corporations such as Meta (Facebook) and Amazon for billions of dollars.
The preinstalled app agreements between the OS developer and app developer helps tech giants such as Meta to monopolize social media and/or Amazon to monopolize internet retail sales due to the fact that their apps are preinstalled into billions of devices giving them a huge advantage over potential competitors who have to market their apps through Google Play, Apple App Store, or Windows App Store.
If a potential competitor or innovator does not have billions of dollars to pay to Google, Apple, or Microsoft, they have to compete with millions of other companies who are also distributing their apps through Google Play, Apple App Store, or Windows App Store.
Google, Apple, and Microsoft control the operating system and app distribution markets enabling them, plus their preinstalled app developer partners, the ability to monopolize inernet access through centralization and commercialization.
Control over the operating system and preinstalled apps are a antitrust issue that governments around the world have failed to address due to the powerful tech lobby which holds influence over governments worldwide.
Even so-called competitors such as Google and Apple partner with each other in order to exploit end users for profits through surveillance and data mining business practices.
It is a little-known fact that Google’s web browser is the default browser for Apple’s Safari by design as Google pays Apple upwards of $20 billion dollars annually to gain access to Apple iPhone end users for surveillance and data mining purposes dating back to 2014.
Many consumers who went to Apple to decouple from Google have no idea that Apple sold them out to Google years ago.
In the end, allowing a few companies to control the operating system and app development markets have led to the loss of competition, innovation, privacy, security, and even safety since numerous intrusive apps and social media platforms are intentionally developed to be highly addictive brain hi-jacking technologies (see Netflix Social Dilemma for Reference).
The development of apps have led to the death of the URL which plays into the hands of Google, Apple, and Microsoft, plus their app developer partners.
Although internet end users can simply type in a URL to a web browser to access a website, most internet end users are accessing website from apps, mainly the preinstalled apps that come with connected products they have purchased such as a smartphone which can come with over 300 preinstalled apps pending OS.
This means that apps are a contributing factor regarding competition and innovation since users are not compelled to search the internet for competitive services to Amazon, Facebook, or even TikTok since these apps are preinstalled into billions of connected products.
Why search for a new social media platform when you can simply tap/click on Facebook or TikTok rather than do an internet search.
Why look for a new internet retailer when you can simply click on Amazon, and so fourth.
Control over preinstalled apps gives tech giants the ability to monopolize whole industries due to the fact that preinstalled apps are distributed through billions of devices, such as smartphones, that are supported by the Android OS, Apple iOS, or Microsoft Windows.
Consequently, any up-and-coming competitor to the tech giants that are in control of the preinstalled app market, can be marginalized through shadow banning on social media sites, visibility filtering through web-browsers, or can even be deplatformed such as the case with Twitter competitor Parler.
Although Google, Apple, and Microsoft reinstated Parler, Parler never recovered from being deplatformed by Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Google and Microsoft in particular also own the most popular web browsers in the world (Chrome and Bing), social media platforms (YouTube and LinkedIn), and now AI Chatbots (AI ChatGPT & BARD) giving them the ability to control trade and commerce through the web browser or social media platform.
The ability for a company to control app distribution while owning an operating system, social media platforms, gaming apps/platforms, and a web browser is another antitrust issue that needs to be addressed by governments around the world.
As a result of centralization, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have eliminated security, privacy, civil liberties, and safety associated with connected products such as smartphones and PCs, due to predatory surveillance and data mining business practices rooted in Surveillance Capitalism.
Through centralization, Google, Apple, Microsoft, plus their app developer partners, have monetized every aspect of the operating system end user’s life turning the end user into an uncompensated information producer whom they exploit for profits 24×7/365 days per year.
This means that every time a connected product owner uses their smartphone, tablet PC, smartTV, connected vehicle, PC, or other connected products, Google, Apple, Microsoft, plus all relevant app developer partners, make money by exploiting the product owner for financial gain.
We all can agree that losing security and privacy is bad enough, but what is happening today is the fact that connected product owners are being exploited for financial gain at the expense of their privacy, security, civil liberties, and safety by the very companies the product owner patronizes with their trust, loyalty, and hard-earned money.
At the beginning of the 2,000s internet end users traded their confidential personal information for free services such as a web-browser or a free social media account.
Due to predatory terms of service, connected product owners are forced to give up their valuable personal and business information to OS and preinstalled app developers by way of products that cost money such as a smartphone, connected vehicle, smartTV, or PC supported by the Android OS, Apple iOS, or Microsoft Windows.
The reason the product owner is forced into giving up their valuable personal and business information is due to the fact that the operating system, plus all preinstalled apps are supported by predatory terms of service that is a contract of adhesion that is accepted by the product owner when they click on “I Agree”.
For example, if you pay for a smartphone supported by the Android OS or Apple iOS, you cannot use your smartphone if you do not accept the predatory terms of service that support the OS and preinstalled apps.
Forced acceptance of the terms of service is an example of forced participation which is a consumer protection issue that needs to be addressed by governments around the world.
In the end, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have killed privacy and security due to predatory surveillance and data mining business practices rooted in Surveillance Capitalism.
Government is not going to help protect the consumer from predatory tech giants who monopolize and control the internet through the operating system, preinstalled apps, and app stores due to the powerful tech lobby.
The only solution to gain back security and privacy is to decouple from the over commercialized and centralized internet through decentralization and freedom respecting software and services.
There is a way to break free from the Silicon Valley Matrix, that way is through innovative companies that are are founded on principles helping society, such as releasing all the source code, using and promoting decentralized secure and private services, leveraging powerful respectful tools such as a Linux kernel based operating systems and fully auditable apps that support smartphones, laptop PCs, servers, and PCs.
One such company is San Francisco based Purism. Purism provides a non-Android Linux OS, PureOS, that powers Purism’s own smartphones, laptops, PCs, and servers all manufactured by Purism.
The Librem 5 USA smartphone in particular, runs PureOS, has Made in US Electronics for the highest level of security and privacy on the market today while supporting by default decentralized services and freedom respecting software.
In addition to hardware and software, Purism also offers a full decentralized (and growing) suite of services called Librem One for decentralized encrypted chat, decentralized social, decentralized encrypted email, and encrypted VPN tunnel. Librem AweSIM is Cellular VPN another service provided by Purism.
If you want to break free from the Silicon Valley Matrix, it is up to you to make the next move by decoupling as much of your life from the centralized internet as possible.
The next step is for you to learn more at Purism: puri.sm
Model | Status | Lead Time | ||
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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 early November | ||
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 date pending | ||
Librem Mini | Backorder ($799+) | Estimated fulfillment November | ||
Librem Server | In Stock ($2,999+) | 45 business days |