Will the phone contain any government spying and remote control chip such as the e911 chip is required by USA law in mobile wireless devices? And if not, will I be arrested for using a phone without it?

#1

There are some very authoritarian laws about movable wireless networks in USA. How will those affect the librem5 and its users?

I do not know what secret functions this chip has other than whats mentioned on wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_9-1-1 chip, but I suspect anyone who mass produces phones is under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gag_order not to tell parts of what they have done against privacy and security.

If it contains an e911 chip, will there be a hardware switch to disconnect it, like there is for microphone etc? How about a faraday cage that slides around it with the switch, to prevent it from being tracked while disconnected? Can I have a log of all the bits which move between it and the device and run a CPU controlled firewall between them? Is the e911 chip needed to connect to mobile Internet?

#2

Try asking a different question: would you be arrested for using a phone made before that law came into effect?

#3

Gotta love your succinct title :heart_eyes:

I didn’t see a direct hint that any chip needs to support anything here. Basic triangulation does not need support by the phone. If a GPS signal should be transmitted, the baseband chip would need to support that. As it is a standard baseband chip, you can assume that. However the Librem 5 will be just about the only phone where the baseband chip is a standalone chip, with no direct access to memory, and with a killswitch. There’s also a killswitch for the sensors (GPS).

One cannot track a disconnected chip. There’s no magic involved. In available phones, the chip may just never be disconnected, even if “turned off”. You just need be be certain that the chip does not have a hidden capacitor.

Gag orders is what warrant canaries are for.

#4

Its possible to power a chip wirelessly even if its disconnected from its local power source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker may be the power end of such a tracking system.

Can wireless networks be connected to without blackbox chips (which may contain anything)?

I’ve saved a zipped copy of https://source.puri.sm/Purism/warrant-canary

#5

That’s a good question.

Some of my friends went on those Anonymous protests that were popping out everywhere. They all wore masks so police couldn’t identify them.

The next day each and every protestor was brought in for questioning because they all had their phones with them so police had just brought in everyone whose number was traced at that place at that time.

So yeah, they got smart these days.

#6

i would be interested in knowing for a FACT from the Purism manufacturers if the Librem 5 device will have any redundant battery system except the main battery used to power the device.
for example : will it have some sort of battery like the one featured on desktop motherboards that hold bios information for when the device is powered of and disconnected from any external power sources ?
i know someone that managed to reset my bios password by removing the said battery from the motherboard then after a few minutes inserting it back again.
what information will the Librem 5 keep after it has been completely severed from any power source ?

i speak from local experience. you should not have ANY centrally managed electronic communication devices on you if you do decide to participate on Protests. better yet do yourself a favor and PROTEST in a way that won’t get you HURT or LOCKED UP. how ? invest time and money into EDUCATING yourself and others(only people willing and able to participate) about Libre Computing.
lastly do your best to encourage and support people that actively invest their available resources into developing Libre Hardware and Software.

“they” were never smart. “they” have only as much power over us as we give them (knowingly or unknowingly)

#7

I am also interested in how the hardware kill switch works. After switch on the killswitch, Could the baseband independently do its own stuff, while cut off the connection between the main system, or will be completely shutdown and battery being cut off? The former one cannot protect you from being trace in a protest, and the latter one can.