I think this was discussed on the forums before but I appreciate these concerns being taken seriously and the detailed response from @nicole.faerber. I’m not thrilled about it being made in China for a few reasons however I would like to see the same security measures taken regardless of where it is manufactured. Who and where something is designed and manufactured is even more of a concern when it comes to a closed device like the modem.
I want to say that I greatly value these points. Not every battle can be fought at once but I have been impressed at the directions Purism has taken during this campaign.
the way i see it. small baby steps are beeing taken by purism to ensure we get a freedom/security/privacy oriented smartphone.
is it optimal/ideal if the components are sourced in China and then asembled elsewhere ? this topic has partially shed light on that and we can safely conclude that it’s probably impractical to do so in any other place in the world right now with our current mindset and funding posibilities/biases.
as a few people participating in this conversation have already pointed out - it’s not just a matter of throwing more money at the problem even if that was a possibility.
i’ve recently started following a couple of interesting but very lengthy wiki articles that got me thinking about the nature of surveilance and the other issues concerning freedoms in general related to individual identity.