The only black boxes like the modem are physically separated from the chip and sandboxed over USB.
If you don't trust them, format it and install your favorite distro + Posh (which is also open source ) that you downloaded yourself
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...
"There was never a single answer that made sense and only one answer actually ever "it will be $300 per device and some company said they would do it even if we hit only 5000 devices". You need to realize this was before we even knew what materials we will use, how the phone will look and so on. So vapor all the way."
This sounds exactly like the dev had no idea how manufacturing or investor relations goes. You need some numbers to tell investors, and you need the investment to design the phone, so you estimate. Using a price target of $300 seems reasonable.
From the second, I read it a long time ago and just skimmed it now, I read it as they hit major setbacks (perhaps because instead of rebadging existing stock they're suddenly building something new) and didn't want their money to dry up by scaring off the folks paying for the hardware.
The "raise money to build a new device with no manufacturing experience ends up taking forever, costing a lot more, and making people unhappy" story is an old one now. Kickstarter is full of these.
I don't see any evidence that there's anything going on more than inexperience here.