Privacy Is Sacrosanct. FELLOW NERDS OF STEEMIT: Are there alternatives to Purism PC builds? Let's discuss!

"Purism is a freedom-respecting computer manufacturer based in San Francisco, founded in 2014 with the fundamental goal of combining the philosophies of the Free Software movement with the hardware manufacturing process. Purism is a social purpose corporation (SPC) devoted to providing the highest quality hardware available, ensuring the rights of security, privacy, and freedom for all users."
https://puri.sm/

To me, privacy is sacrosanct. As a living, breathing, adult human being, I do not like the thought or idea that I need to be, should be, or could be surveilled. I think that surveillance is neither necessary nor moral. In my opinion, it's extremely regressive, oppressive, demeaning, and well . . . disgusting. The expectation of privacy both in personal life and in communication should be a fundamental human right. It shouldn't be asked for, begged for, or bargained over. It should be inherently just . . . there. Something as normal as breathing air.

Encroaching on an individual's privacy, especially by government, in my eyes, is on par with rape. Not just a one-off instance of rape, but a horrendous and perpetual form of rape that only grows harsher with time like a form of malignant cancer since the simple existence of surveillance gives birth to the precedent that it is "in your best interest."

In my opinion, changing a human's entire perspective from perceived personal liberty to "I am always being monitored and cataloged and there's nothing that I can do about it except submit to the will of this imaginary societal construct that tells me that I have no other choice," is not only a crime against humanity of insurmountable proportions, but is also a form of mental slavery. Straight up mental slavery. It is inhumane.

So what can we do about it? Most people read or hear about surveillance and feel dwarfed by it. They feel like trying to go up against "the man," is futile and they simply lay down. Well, we can and should fight back, and I like to think that most of us in this space are doing just that. Not only for ourselves, but for everyone.

OK! I went on a bit of a rant there for a second. Once I started thinking about it and typing, I went on a bit of a spiel. I'll let it ride, haha.

Anyways! I am in the market for a new daily driver, a new laptop build. I'm extremely picky about my builds and I like to intimately know every possible thing about the machine that I interact with on a daily basis. I get weird about every piece that composes my machine. I want to know about and have the ability to investigate and/or manipulate every line of code that composes any firmware or instruction set of any device that makes my machine a complete system. This is what led me to checking out Purism.

So, those of you with these same or similar ideologies, do you know of any alternatives to Purism? How do you go about ensuring your privacy? How do you navigate the tumultuous waters that are the state of information security these days when it comes to the machine that you use?

Let's have a dialogue!!!

- @matt-a

Kindly consider @agoric.systems for witness.