Op 02-03-15 om 14:58 schreef Paul Boddie:
On Monday 2. March 2015 14.26.02 Paul van der Vlis wrote:
I am most interested in the devices what have replaceable firmware. Because somebody could do bad things with it, like they did with the firmware of harddisks.
I think there definitely needs to be more discussion around firmware which can or cannot be upgraded, particularly since a lot of people seem to disagree with the FSF's position on this.
For me there is not so much difference between to upload closed-firmware by the OS or to have a flashrom with closed-firmware feeding such a controller with cloesed-firmware. (But closed-firmware should not be distributed with an open source OS.)
When it's about firmware on a non-flashable ROM, I have the same conclusion as the FSF.
I would like to have open hardware/firmware, but that's not easy to realize. For me closed firmware is not the biggest problem, but I would like to make a sha256sum of it for security.
From one perspective, making the firmware immutable is a bad thing for people who want to fix or improve it, ultimately consigning hardware to waste if it turns out to be critically flawed, but from another perspective, if only the manufacturer is in a position to upgrade the firmware, then they are exercising rights that they deny to the hardware's owners.
Correct. But realize that maybe not only the manufacturer can do it. The code could be stolen, confiscated, extorted, or "part of a deal". China now wants sourcecode before buying hardware.
It's understandable to say that if there's a choice between only some people having the right to upgrade firmware and nobody being able to do it, then the latter prevents one group of people from having power over the other, potentially. However, there's always the argument that such power can be exercised by merely getting the firmware "right first time" (for whatever purpose) and then relinquishing the right to upgrade in order to satisfy the FSF criteria.
Sorry to drag things off topic, although I'll gladly point out Novena [1] for anyone not already aware of it as a useful reference for such matters.
Paul
[1] http://www.kosagi.com/w/index.php?title=Novena_Main_Page
This is really interesting hardware. Maybe I will order it, is there more information available? I would like to read a "critical article".
With regards, Paul van der Vlis.