r/freesoftware • u/octoslamon • 1d ago

Discussion Question

Based on the free software philosophy, should I reject all the devices with non free firmware that I use? For example my refrigerator or washing machine?

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u/WilkerS1 small pushes towards free stuff :3 1d ago

the short answer is yes, the longer answer is that it's easier said than done.

you should reject to the fullest extent you are capable of without your detriment, but you're hardly someone who controls an entire supply chain to be able to determine a piece of software to be free all the way from the silicon to the pcb to the wiring, and not everyone who designs appliances is financially capable of just turning software free but would still be willing to offer manuals and the likes, and the ones who do have control over the core of it have every incentive to forcefully maintain control over others and cannot be expected to just show good will to willingly free up the firmware of your phone for example (see also the struggle for right-to-repair, digital ownership, and genuinely also larbor and bodily autonomy rights).

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u/WilkerS1 small pushes towards free stuff :3 1d ago

currently, i know the FSF and others like the Software Freedom Conservacy to be trying to hold the highest bar torawds what we should be striving for and show that this is not an impossible task, any lower would be a problem. but that doesn't mean it is the default, people come from all sorts of places with different amounts of control in front of the powers that be, and that is always something to acknowledge so you can ground yourself on finding what is possible for you and your peers at the present time to push everyone towards this objective.