<i>&gt; If users truly owned their devices, with full knowledge of the hardware and control of the software + data, we would never have this discussion.</i><p>We should have a series of standardized trusted execution modules which are open source hardware and open source software. There should be a public process by which these are vetted. Watchdog groups could disassemble samples of the chips and place them under electron microscopes and otherwise examine them for tampering.<p>The effect of this would be to place individuals and grassroots organizations on an even playing field with corporations and governments with regards to such tools. It&#x27;s a disaster for large organizations to have access to individual private information, yet it&#x27;s a societal boon for such organizations to be open and for individuals to know what they are doing. The same asymmetry applies to trusted execution. It&#x27;s a disaster when big organizations use it against individuals, but it would be a societal good if individuals could revoke access to their information from corporations when they break goodwill.