[coreboot] [Fwd: Re: Contact Intel]

[Robert Vogel]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard M Stallman" <rms at gnu.org>
To: "Carl-Daniel Hailfinger" <c-d.hailfinger.devel.2006 at gmx.net>
Cc: <arc at gnu.org>; <coreboot at coreboot.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 5:37 AM
Subject: Re: [coreboot] [Fwd: Re: Contact Intel]


> Drawing an ethical line thru a gray area is generally not
> straightforward.  Often it is not possible to find a unique best place
> to draw it, and sometimes we should treat certain areas as
> in-betweens.
>
>    However, another network card
>    with exactly the same chips and the same firmware, but a different 
> model
>    number, may get firmware updates from the vendor. That would _not_
>    qualify as ROM in your definition, at least as I understand it.
>    The technical side of the ROM equivalence question does not allow for
>    such distinctions.
>
> This is a gray area.  I think we can treat it as barely acceptable if
> we do not install firmware upgrades.  But only barely, so we should
> move to free firmware if possible.
>

It isn't only software or firmware that's of concern. There should be no 
compromise: everything should be transparent and therefor auditable. (You 
doubt the importance of this for voting machines ?) See 
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/01/1233244


(snip)