Dasharo Certification Program and liberty for the owners

[pietrushnic]

The problem you're addressing (if any)

One of Dasharo values is liberty for the (hardware) owners. In this issue I would like to explore and discus it and narrow down what it means practically for open-source firmware distribution.

Describe the solution you'd like

• Firmware modification - this is obvious, since hardware owners can freely modify code if they don't like what they have and no one can stop them from deploying modified version. OTOH liberty also means owner may decide to lock-in platform to their or third party keys, platform locking obviously limit ability to modify. Dasharo should provide reasonable support in deploying and maintaining owner firmware. In light of DCP user may loose guarantees provided by Dasharo Team established based on firmware quality verified during certification process.
• Hardware compatibility: Dasharo gathers information about hardware compatibility during certification process but also from community through Hardware Compatibility List Report. Our goal is to enhance liberty of the hardware owners with regard to computer components selection by publishing superior compatibility lists to hardware vendors. We know that is not easy task, but it is function of community size and since hardware vendors do not use community with correct mechanism we can achieve this goal.
• Advocacy for the right to repair and NDA-less documentation access: Dasharo should actively promote liberty of the owners and its right to repair their own hardware, what can be possible only if required documentation is available without NDAs. We are against centralized and authoritarian enforcement, but would rather like to lead to higher value of hardware with certain features and promote those vendors which comply with this right to repair vision. This advocacy helps to raise awareness and build momentum for the right to repair movement, ultimately enabling greater liberty and independence for hardware owners.

[pietrushnic]

As part of FAQ migration from dasharo.com to docs.dasharo.com following part should be considered in respect to DCP liberty for the owners.

Taking ownership of firmware and passing it on when needed is critical to platform security. Existing BIOS firmware solutions make this process difficult— or impossible — to perform. Dasharo helps hardware vendors and their customers make the firmware re-ownership process secure and trustworthy by providing required cryptographic primitives. We believe that there are two state-of-the-art solutions to the problem:

root of trust OCP IBM firmware re-ownership