Digital Dēshoom 2

October 2, 2025

The Operating System is the hidden chokepoint of our digital life. It decides what you can run, what you must trust, and whose terms you're forced to obey.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

An OS should be simple, transparent, verifiable. A neutral layer between your hardware and your apps.

Simplicity is sovereignty - it's time we reclaimed both.

What an OS Should Be

Forget the bloat, the "ecosystems", the pre-installed junk.

At its core, an OS has one job: manage applications on your hardware.

Three layers, clearly defined:

1. Hardware: The device you own.
2. OS: The neutral manager.
3. Applications: The tools you choose.

The OS should provide only what's essential: talk to networks to download, verify, and install apps - nothing more, nothing less.

Complexity is Control

We already have secure protocols that use modern cryptography. So why aren't they enough?

Because verification has been weaponized into complexity.

Certificate chains. Revocation lists. Trusted authorities. Each extra layer makes you more dependent - on big tech, on "forced to trust" intermediaries.

This isn't about your security. It's about their monopoly.

Their intentional complexity isn't protection - it's weaponized control.

Let's PASS

PASS (Personal Authentic Software Services) is a cryptographic protocol that represents a return to first principles. It uses the same modern cryptographic algorithms - but in a way that's simple, auditable, and accessible.

The protocol is elegant in its minimalism:

[version, pubkey, signature] + content

Verifiable content has three elements, then the payload:

• Version: Which cryptographic algorithm is being used
• Public Key: Who signed this
• Signature: Proof of authenticity

That's it. No certificate authorities. No trust chains. No corporate intermediaries.

You verify the signature against the public key. If it matches, the content is authentic. If it doesn't, you reject it.

A simple source of truth anyone can audit.

Why It Matters

PASS doesn't just simplify verification - it democratizes it.

When any creator can PASS their content and any user can verify it without specialized infrastructure, walled gardens crumble - No need for big tech's permission, no need to accept their terms, no need to pay their tax.

You download from anywhere and verify its authenticity. You install what you choose, from whom you trust.

This is how the internet was meant to work.

The OS as Enabler

An Operating System built on these principles looks radically different:

No Default Apps: No pre-bundled apps/services, forced updates, or kill switches.

Built-in PASS verification for all software management.

Minimal core: Hardware + process + networking with complete transparency.

The OS becomes infrastructure, not a walled garden. It enables, not extracts.

This is doable today. No need to reinvent the wheel - NDA and PASS built on top of the Linux kernel is all that's needed.

From Dependency to Dignity

We've surrendered control of the OS to entities that don't share our interests.

The path forward isn't another "alternative ecosystem" - not open source wrapped with hidden dependencies.

The solution is radical simplicity: reduce the OS to its essential function, base it on open cryptographic standards, and return sovereignty to the user.

PASS is the first crack in the wall - once verification is simple, control naturally follows.

The Future We Choose

Digital sovereignty begins with OS.

The future of computing isn't more complexity - it's radical: verifiable simplicity.

Yes, simplicity costs convenience and Sovereignty requires responsibility.

PASS it on.