cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/52928541

It is so difficult to find modern electronics without telemetry and ads. Smartphones, laptops, TVs, home routers, security cameras, cars, game consoles, e-readers, projectors, 3D printers, fitness trackers, speakers, and even some printers. Why can’t customers be free from this data collection and advertising? It’s not that we don’t care about it. There simply aren’t many alternatives, and the few that do exist are either more expensive or offer fewer features. Seriously, we need a list of products we can buy and use directly without worrying about telemetry or advertising.

The following list is updated at https://lemmy.ml/post/52706206. Please note that this list may contain errors.

• Laptop: Framework Laptop, System76, MNT
• Anything else that doesn’t come with ads or telemetry built in?

You might want to rethink the laptop list. Telemetry and advertising is generally a function of the operating system and the installed software, not the hardware. Commercial operating systems like Windows, MacOS, and ChromeOS are the prime suspects here regardless of the hardware, so buying, for example, a System76 laptop and installing Windows on it will not give you any privacy advantages over a Windows-based Dell.

There may be some privacy advantages if the laptop uses CoreBoot instead of stock BIOS/UEFI.