This maybe a dumb question but i became paranoid all of a sudden and wanted some answers because i can’t find it anywhere else nor can i sleep without it. Like even if i did flash linux on a lets say amd laptop couldn’t the chip itself be spying on me ? Also i understand bootloaders are stored or rom is there a way to know what else is stored on it are roms open source ? Are cpu’s open source and companies like asus store their logos and shit on their mother boards so what else could they be storing ? Are there open source alternatives for these parts ? Are we all being privacy cautios for nothing ? I know we can use firewall but wouldn’t the chip integrated have the ability to bye pass it ?
I know there are linux laptops but having a pre installed linux and some switches isn’t gonna solve the problem do they use open source roms and motherboard ? Are there any fully open source chipsets ? I want to know the same about smartphones too ?
Throw it on pihole, you can see all traffic coming and going through your house. Also a great anti-advertise option.
In my experience, theres a lot less spying and a lot more BS/bad scripts checking in, but you do you.
One thing to note, pihole also blocks ads in you’re using wifi from your phone. If I’m playing a game or whatever that has “watch this ad for…” half the time I have to switch off wifi or else it’ll claim the ad failed and won’t give the item.