Are we really in control?

Our digital world is designed to predict you—not protect you.

Every major operating system today—Windows, macOS, Android, iOS—is built with telemetry at its core.

They log usage, behavior, location, app activity, and more.

This data isn’t collected accidentally—it’s collected to feed ad models, algorithmic prediction engines, and surveillance analytics.

It’s not a conspiracy. It’s a business model.

Apple calls it “personalization.”

Google calls it “relevance.”

Microsoft calls it “diagnostics.”

It’s all surveillance—just branded differently.

Even cybersecurity tools?

They’re reactive.

Antivirus and EDR software only trigger after a signature is detected—after the payload executes, after the damage starts.

By that time, your system has already been profiled, fingerprinted, and logged.

Now here’s the part most people don’t want to talk about:

The silicon itself.

Today’s CPUs (Intel, AMD, ARM) contain layers of microcode, management engines, and firmware you can’t see or control.

Intel Management Engine (IME) and AMD’s Platform Security Processor (PSP) run below the OS, with direct access to memory, network, and disk.

In 2017, researchers demonstrated exploits against IME that allowed covert remote control of machines—even when powered off but plugged in.

These chips are closed-source, signed with keys we can’t audit, and baked into your motherboard.

If malicious actors (or governments) compromise firmware-level access:

• You can’t format it

• You can’t detect it

• You can’t patch it

You’re hooked for life.

And the software stacks on top? They were never designed to defend against firmware-level surveillance.

Because the whole model assumes:

You don’t own your machine. The system does.

So ask yourself:

If the tools meant to protect you run on systems designed to predict and exploit you—

Are you really in control?”