> This concept that "if it's in ROM and cannot be updated it's not software, it's hardware" is asinine, against actual practical freedom for users, and also a net security negative.
There is a distinction between blob 'is in ROM and cannot be updated', 'is in EPROM and might be updated', and 'it is in RAM and must be provided at boot'.
While one can argue about the second case, the third case is problematic for practical and legal reasons, as handling (using and distributing) requires accepting licence of the firmware, which affects distribution infrastructure of free Linux distributions. Some firmwares also do not allow redistributing, so they have to be downloaded from vendor website, which further complicates practical and legal matters and have privacy issues.
The second case (it is in EPROM nad might be updated) does not have such effect directly, but leads to it indirectly, by allowing vendors to depend on cheap post-purchase fixes by firmware update, so they can offer less tested products, where firmware update is practically necessary due to original firmware being buggy, so essentially moving to the third case.
There is a distinction between blob 'is in ROM and cannot be updated', 'is in EPROM and might be updated', and 'it is in RAM and must be provided at boot'.
While one can argue about the second case, the third case is problematic for practical and legal reasons, as handling (using and distributing) requires accepting licence of the firmware, which affects distribution infrastructure of free Linux distributions. Some firmwares also do not allow redistributing, so they have to be downloaded from vendor website, which further complicates practical and legal matters and have privacy issues.
The second case (it is in EPROM nad might be updated) does not have such effect directly, but leads to it indirectly, by allowing vendors to depend on cheap post-purchase fixes by firmware update, so they can offer less tested products, where firmware update is practically necessary due to original firmware being buggy, so essentially moving to the third case.