Independence and Software Freedom
Software Freedom-compliant endeavour strives to give users collective control or - put another way - Software Freedom is the condition wherein they have true control. Software Freedom activists strive to enable people, businesses, and governments/nations to acquire (or regain) control over their physical systems, at least by exercising control over the software layer (many hardware components are immutable and different; they are exceptionally difficult to properly audit). With Net-connected devices, even with direct physical access to all your "machines" it is possible that another party is secretly (or openly, overtly) in control of you, via those devices.
This is not a matter of opinion. The above is more or less a truism, with pertinent wording subjected to debate or cherry-picking/nitpicking.
The US became independent from the Crown (British) 250 years ago. Its citizens, however, are not independent from corporations, nor is their government.
Much work remains to be done. █
Image source: Speckled Horse in Jungle