Re: FSF continuously harms Free Hardware

[Richard Stallman]

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[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
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In my view, the idea of "free hardware" is not a good concept.  The
distinction between free and nonfree software is crucially about
whether users can change it.  But most changes in hardware are
impossible.  I don't think that distinction makes sense for physical
pieces of hardware.

Rather, it makes sense for hardware _designs_.

https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-hardware-designs.html states our reasons
for this position.  I wish you agreed with us, but we can live with
your disagreement.

Yes, we certify hardware whose designs are not free.  There is no reason
to be more strict than that -- and it would make the certification program
almost a no-op.

  > The GPLv3 even when used in good faith by hardware developers such as 
  > https://github.com/Creality3DPrinting/Ender-3 is legally problematic as 
  > it's referring to the copyrighted material as "software".

Our lawyer assured me that that is not an obstacle to using GPL 3
for other kinds of works.  And publishing proprietary modified versions
would violate the license.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)