You can't really verify for sure. Well, unless they did something and goofed. You would need a team of experts to examine everything from the various firmwares

You can't really verify for sure. Well, unless they did something and goofed. You would need a team of experts to examine everything from the various firmwares and microcontrollers and microcode to the OEM "tamper-proof" labels, which can almost assuredly be counterfeited and placed by NSA. It would be less work to just maintain multiple computers for separate, distinct tasks (eg. one for browsing Al Jazeera, one for PressTV, etc). Oh, you'll also want separate Internet connections in highly diverse geographic locations (lots of plane tickets? no, those can be tied back. Tor? Nope, that's just pseudonymous. Multiple VPN connections? Who knows anymore. Some additional thoughts: 1) Who's to say all Thinkpads (or whatever) aren't backdoored from the factory, perhaps without Lenovo's knowledge? 2) Perhaps buying your gear off of Craigslist from someone who is in a demographic highly unlikely to get the attention of NSA (eg. a white, blonde, college girl who doesn't follow politics, activism, or world news). See if she'll throw in some glitter nail polish. See what I'm getting at? It's futile.