I'm trying to understand all of this and especially the threats to privacy, control of my computing hardware, and data security.

I read about some new hard/software for secure boot, etc., but don't recall all the details now.

So, for a shorter approach, suppose I just buy a processor from AMD, a motherboard from ASUS, hard disk drives from Western Digital, etc., and plug it all together for myself. So, then I'm the manufacturer or OEM of my computer.

Q. 1. For what the OP is talking about, where do I have threats to privacy, control of my machine and its data, and security?

Q. 2. To use the machine I plugged together, do I have to get some keys from Microsoft?

Q. 3. Suppose I install operating systems from Microsoft, e.g., Windows 7 64 bit Professional, Windows 10, Windows Server or the database SQL Server. Then do I have to get keys from Microsoft?

Q. 4. Will the support processor and its software, whatever they are called, on their own without my knowledge or approval use the Internet to send/receive data from/to my computer, modify the data on my hard disks, etc.?

Thanks.