Talking About Blackboxes
First, an announcement: There will be some network maintenance work tonight, finishing tomorrow morning (one day before the end of February). We've been productive and focused lately. We intend to carry on that way.
Having just reposted a couple of articles from Alex Oliva, it seems appropriate to weigh in, seeing that there will be a GNU Linux-Libre 7(.0) some time in the coming months, this time with more Rust in the pipeline. Oliva explained social dynamics as they relate to strict requirements, then spoke about hardware blackboxes. Hey, does IBM even allow us to use that term in 2026? Didn't they "master" inclusive language?
Regardless of semantics, pushers of back doors, kill switches and restrictions (not in the sense of the word Linux-Libre adheres to, more like TPMs and DRM) - probably even rootkits - want us to think the real problem is resistance to attacks on computer users. Of course they themselves don't use freedom-respecting hardware and software. That alone is a giveaway.
The FSF made an awful mistake in 2013 and it's still paying for it. That sent a mixed, maybe even contradictory, message.
In Techrights we've always believed Software Freedom will come not through systematic compromises and appeasement. To oppose back doors in a world where regimes (yes, even Western governments) demand and sometimes mandate back doors is no easy feat. But it must be done consistently and adamantly. We're not looking to do what's easy or most convenient but what it right and just. █
Image source: A Man Fixes Telegraph Wires During the US Civil War