Bug #9353

Make clear that we ship non-free firmware

Added by BitingBird 2015-05-07 02:47:40 . Updated 2015-05-16 07:39:13 .

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
intrigeri
Category:
Hardware support
Target version:
Start date:
2015-05-07
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Feature Branch:
doc/9353-firmware
Type of work:
End-user documentation
Blueprint:

Starter:
Affected tool:
Deliverable for:

Description

Technically, for the curious: we use Debian’s Linux kernel (that is
fully free), and install binary firmware from non-free on top of that.

The thing is, if Tails doesn’t work out-of-the-box on the computer(s)
they have available, most potential users will simply use something
else, that will 1. just work (“thanks” to the inclusion of binary
firmware); and 2. be less safe in the vast majority of
real-world cases.

Also, most hardware that doesn’t
require proprietary firmware to be injected into it at runtime is
simply embedding such proprietary firmware, often in a read-only
manner. Not only this arguably doesn’t provide much more security than
injecting proprietary firmware at runtime, and it prevents hardware
vendors from fixing (potentially security-relevant) bugs in the
firmware once it’s been shipped to users.

This could be added to https://tails.boum.org/doc/about/license


Subtasks


History

#1 Updated by BitingBird 2015-05-09 21:35:30

  • Status changed from Confirmed to In Progress
  • Feature Branch set to bitingbird:doc/9353-firmware

#2 Updated by BitingBird 2015-05-09 22:01:43

  • Assignee changed from BitingBird to intrigeri
  • % Done changed from 0 to 30
  • QA Check set to Ready for QA

Added a line in license and the big text block in the design doc. Assigning to intri for review, as I’m not comfortable phrasing correctly for the design doc.

#3 Updated by intrigeri 2015-05-15 09:44:11

  • Category set to Hardware support
  • Assignee changed from intrigeri to BitingBird
  • % Done changed from 30 to 60
  • Feature Branch changed from bitingbird:doc/9353-firmware to doc/9353-firmware

Great! Pushed a few changes on top, please review and then I’ll merge once you’re happy with the result.

#4 Updated by BitingBird 2015-05-16 05:58:25

  • Assignee changed from BitingBird to intrigeri
  • QA Check changed from Ready for QA to Pass

Your changes are good, please commit :)

#5 Updated by intrigeri 2015-05-16 07:39:13

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • % Done changed from 60 to 100

Applied in changeset commit:a2237fe8ff4e5fc6edc4b6dc4cc634aceb20be2c.