Although the author is correct in asserting that compiled software is to a large extent a black box, this is not the case for Linux distributed software. You can in all cases obtain that software from ‘readable’ open source code You can then take that code, build it and compile it together with all its many dependencies.
Unfortunately unless you have the time, ability and inclination building ALL the code and dependencies from scratch would be a ball-busting exercise. It would also need expertise in areas like crypography that most of us do not have. We therefore put our trust in the teams that review the source code for such modules. This is by no means fool-proof as the NSA have snuck in rogue code on a number of times, so if you are a paranoid target the article is correct, otherwise it is correct, but still paranoid.
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