Some rather alarming trends are being baked into your new OS and Intel/AMD hardware and you can’t do anything about it. What you say? The fact is that our government is so paranoid that they are installing backdoors into your computers, and if they aren’t many believe they are.  Some of this is obvious, for example, microsoft’s newest OS runs as a service, a service based in Microsoft’s cloud. The problem? You have no idea what information Microsoft is collecting from you behind this semi transparent notion that you would pay a monthly service fee to “rent” out your OS. And this information is freely available to our government with as little as a NSL, no court order required. This is a disgusting concept for me and at this time prevents me from honestly recommending Win10 to anybody.

In addition, Microsoft is in cahoots with both Intel and AMD to build in, actually code in, firmware backdoors into your hardware. These backdoors make it entirely possible that hackers or the government can pry open you computer on demand.

The x86 architecture, while ubiquitous in personal computing, suffers from irreparable security and lockdown issues. For example, the Intel Management Engine (ME) is a problem that’s been brewing for about ten years, even though the popular technology press has only recently started reporting on it. The Intel ME is present on all modern Intel processors and is essentially a backdoor with full access to the entire computer – a security disaster waiting to happen. Due to the deeply entrenched interests of current players (e.g., Intel and AMD), and the presumed jungle of legally binding contracts those interests have with their myriad partners, this situation will never improve and will only worsen.

So now we may see a rally behind OpenSource and Made in America. Presenting a computer for real Americans:

https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-secure-workstation