Developer Warns Of "Uncorrectable Freedom & Security Issues" For x86

A developer long involved in Coreboot/Libreboot development is trying to call attention to "uncorrectable freedom and security issues" on x86 platforms with nearly all post-2009 Intel systems and post-2013 AMD systems.

The message by Timothy Pearson of Raptor Engineering, who has ported Coreboot/Libreboot to a number of motherboards, sent out a lengthy message to the FSF Europe mailing list about the concerns over x86 by free software users. For frequent Phoronix readers, the message really isn't new but is over how with the Intel Management Engine (ME) and AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP), modern processors from both AMD and Intel require various binary-only blobs for hardware initialization. There's also still the continued concerns over systems using UEFI Secure Boot.

Pearson recommends those concerned about free software switch away from x86 and move to ARM, POWER, MIPS, or RISC-V. Of course, when it comes to POWER, there is Raptor Engineering's $3000+ Talos Secure Workstation.

You can read Timothy's message in full here.