I sent an RFP to all the hardware makers, but no one was willing to cough up a third party audit, let me audit their flashing process, crack open the IME, let me review the chain of custody for every chip, and opensource the bootloader for my n=1 order quantity.
Could I flash coreboot/libreboot, (mostly) disable IME, get opensource firmware for every peripheral, and get a chain of custody for every part from boule to finished part? perhaps, but this is not realistic for most people.
You're making a long list of assumptions that are not true. Incremental, improved privacy offered by apple over something like Windows is a significant improvement for most people.
Going to court is the pretty good "put up or shut up", idk what else you are expecting here.
There are multiple vendors which ship devices with IME disabled and instructions for flashing coreboot (or they ship with it pre-installed). And Apple is much closer to Windows than it is to a GOS phone and self-hosted infra. The options are there for the people who actually care.
Could I flash coreboot/libreboot, (mostly) disable IME, get opensource firmware for every peripheral, and get a chain of custody for every part from boule to finished part? perhaps, but this is not realistic for most people.
You're making a long list of assumptions that are not true. Incremental, improved privacy offered by apple over something like Windows is a significant improvement for most people.
Going to court is the pretty good "put up or shut up", idk what else you are expecting here.