#HCPP18 - Interview with Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism #LIVE

## Podcast Episode Summary: #HCPP18 - Interview with Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism #LIVE

1. Narrative Summary:

This episode features an in-depth interview with Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism, a company dedicated to building open-source hardware and software that prioritizes user control and digital civil rights. Weaver passionately argues that the modern tech landscape has eroded fundamental rights in the pursuit of convenience and profit, leading to a widespread loss of trust in large corporations. Purism’s approach is radical: they’re developing secure hardware like laptops and the upcoming Lieberman 5 phone, featuring physical switches to disconnect components like cameras and microphones for true isolation. They’re also building “Liberty,” a decentralized, encrypted messaging service, and focusing on controlling their entire supply chain, even considering 3D printing chipsets to further decentralize production. The company’s ethos extends to advocating for free software and promoting ethical practices, even if it means sacrificing short-term financial gains. A key challenge Purism faces is convincing users to prioritize privacy and security over the ease of use offered by mainstream platforms, a hurdle they aim to overcome by making secure communication as simple as signing up for an email account.

2. Main Topics Discussed:

• Purism's Mission & Philosophy: Focus on open-source hardware/software, user control, privacy, and ethical practices as a social purpose corporation.
• Hardware Security: Physical switches for component isolation (camera, baseband), reproducible builds, and supply chain control.
• Software Security & Freedom: Advocacy for free software, endorsement from the Free Software Foundation (FSF), and restrictions on app stores to only allow free software.
• Decentralized Services: Development of "Liberty," an encrypted messaging service.
• Digital Civil Rights: The core issue of privacy erosion and the tradeoff between convenience and control.
• Corporate Responsibility: Critique of modern corporations prioritizing profit over public good.
• Email Encryption & User Experience: Partnering to simplify encryption and using Gnome for a user-friendly interface.
• Intellectual Property & Gerber Files: Strategic approach to releasing hardware designs, considering a "time capsule" release after several years.
• Upstream Development: Contributing software advancements (Pure OS, Gnome, KDE) to the broader open-source community.

3. Key Quotes:

• Todd Weaver: "I realized what I need to change society for the better because in the future it's going to be convenience that ends up removing the digital civil rights that we have."
• Todd Weaver: "It's all about convenience versus control."
• "We've given up all of their privacy so that we can share photos."
• "The erosion of trust of big tech is already well on the way to collapse."

4. People Mentioned:

• Todd Weaver (CEO of Purism - Interviewee)
• Richard Stallman (Founder of the Free Software Foundation)
• Art (Conference Organizer)
• Adolfo Lenara (Lawyer, worked with the Panama Papers)
• Peter Todd (Discussed space pirates and mining at black holes)
• Werner Kalk (Creator of GBG encryption)

5. Bitcoin Price:

• No Bitcoin prices were mentioned in this episode.

Release Dates:

• Lieberman 5 phone: April 2019
• Product "Liberty": 2019