Re: [Trisquel-users] An Introduction, and a few questions

[dguthrie]

> No? Other than the ethical issue, what personal computing issues would I  
have using the proprietary firmware with Debian?
The firmwares are proprietary, thus there is a distinct possibility of  
backdoors. We do not know so it is rational to assume so. Keep in mind a  
firmware is not always just data loaded, as for some touch screens. It is  
often a complex program, as in the case of the AMD GPUs. Because the hardware  
does not have its designs freely available, we can't have even a minimal  
guarantee that the firmware has no access to peripherals such as keyboard,  
microphone, or webcam. Similarly, there is evidence that the firmwares can  
impersonate other functions that they really shouldn't be given. Always  
remember, security is only as good as its weakest link! I should also point  
out that AMD/Intel chips have the creepy omnipotent management technologies  
already though.
That being said, from a practical perspective proprietary firmware such that  
you can run a system entirely libre other than that one program is better  
than absolutely nothing. It isn't a proprietary driver so the driver can be  
ported forward to future releases of the kernel. It is treated by the crap  
driver as a single file that is loaded at boot-time.
I think you will know what our advice is, though. Ditch the computer while  
you can, as its market re-sale value de-appreciates every day. (that's the  
wonder of capitalism! >:-( )