Taurinus X200 laptop now FSF-certified to respect your freedom

by

pehjota@pipedot.org

in hardware on 2015-09-29 22:01 (#NZ56)

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The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has awarded its Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification to the Taurinus X200 laptop sold by Libiquity. The RYF certification mark means that the product meets the FSF's standards in regard to users' freedom, control over the product, and privacy. The Taurinus X200 comes with Libreboot firmware and the FSF-endorsed Trisquel GNU/Linux operating system. Importantly, Intel's Management Engine (ME) firmware with its applications like AMT (remote out-of-band management/backdoor system, part of "vPro") and PAVP (audio/video DRM) have been removed from this laptop. The laptop ships within the USA and may be purchased from the Libiquity Store.

A step backwards (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-29 22:07 (#NZ6D)

Removing/disabling existing out-of-band management strikes me as a distinct step BACKWARDS. OoBM is extremely useful and convenient (and uncommon in consumer hardware). It's unfortunate that manufacturers don't put a high priority on the security of their OoBM firmware, so I understand the reason for the removal... but I'd still call it on-par with protecting your computer by completely disconnecting it from all networks. It'll be secure that way, but...