---
title: Free Software Policy with Semi-Firm Firmware
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2023/program/proposals/963
beginning: '2023-11-04T13:50:00.000-07:00'
end: '2023-11-04T14:40:00.000-07:00'
resources:
  internet_archive_identifier: SeaGL2023-Free_Software_Policy_with_Semi-Firm_Firmware
presenters:
- name: Kyle Rankin
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/1640
  gravatar_id: 3a51bcfc17e8a434286213c781e51e1a
  biography: 'Kyle Rankin has over two decades of professional Linux experience. He
    is the author of The Best of Hack and /: Linux Admin Crash Course, Linux Hardening
    in Hostile Networks, DevOps Troubleshooting, The Official Ubuntu Server Book,
    Third Edition, Knoppix Hacks, 2nd Edition, and Ubuntu Hacks, among other books.
    Rankin was an award-winning columnist and tech editor for Linux Journal, and speaks
    frequently on Free and Open Source software including at SCALE, FOSDEM, O’Reilly
    Security Conference, Linux Fest NorthWest, OpenWest, BSidesLV, CactusCon, OSCON,
    Linux World Expo, and Penguicon.'
---

Somewhere between hardware and software, is firmware. It was originally called that precisely because it straddled those two worlds.

Yet most firmware is no longer firm, it's more like tofu and exists in firm, semi-firm, and soft states. Current FSF policy that allows proprietary firmware is based on burned-on-chip, write-once firmware from a few decades ago. Most firmware today is field-upgradable and closer to software. This talk will discuss how the modern state of "firm"ware demands new free software policy, and start a discussion on what that policy could be.
