[pitchups]

Also wondering how they plan to address the problem of users losing their USB sticks or mistakenly swapping them with others, and the security of the personal data. Assuming the sticks will use encryption to store personal data. In which case, how do you handle restoring an encrypted partition when users forget their password, etc.

[jessedhillon]

Why would you assume that? These are people who might be using their own computer for the first time ever. Do you really think they are going to jump straight to the point where they are storing valuable, sensitive information on there? Moreover, they appear to be extremely poor, and therefore poor targets for digital thieves.

No encryption and the problem is solved.

[pitchups]

I agree most of these users would not worry about the security of their personal data. But privacy may be more relevant - for example if they are keeping a private journal . In any case, the software does encrypt and password protect the data: From their FAQ page : ( http://keepod.com/portfolio/unite/ )

The OS pre-boot encrypted and protected by strong password policy.

and

Without the having backed up the data, the consequence is similar to losing a computer. However, the costs resolving of this mishap are much lower. On the bright side, no one else will have access to this data because of the high security standards.