Arduino's new terms of service have sparked concerns among the maker community, who fear that the company is compromising its open-source DNA. The changes, which were made after Qualcomm announced its acquisition of Arduino, include a prohibition on reverse-engineering the platform.
The new rule states that users cannot translate, decompile or reverse-engineer the Platform, or engage in any other activity designed to identify the algorithms and logic of the Platform's operation, unless expressly allowed by Arduino or by applicable license agreements. This has led to criticism from some members of the maker community, including Adafruit founder Limor Fried and managing editor Phillip Torrone.
Fried and Torrone have questioned why reverse-engineering is prohibited at all, given that Arduino is built on openly hackable systems. They argue that this rule could stifle innovation and hinder the development of new projects based on Arduino's platforms.
The change also includes a new section on "AI Policy" which gives Arduino the right to monitor user accounts and usage of AI products, including features and functions, compute time, and storage. Fried and Torrone have expressed concerns about how data collected from these systems is retained, who has access to it, and why it's only opt-out by not using the features.
Arduino's response to the criticism claims that the changes "clarify" its open-source principles and state that any hardware, software or services released with Open Source licenses remain available as before. However, some users remain worried about Arduino's future under Qualcomm and question why certain language was included in the new terms of service, particularly around patents.
The maker community is now awaiting further clarification from Arduino on how its open-source principles will be upheld under Qualcomm's ownership.
The new rule states that users cannot translate, decompile or reverse-engineer the Platform, or engage in any other activity designed to identify the algorithms and logic of the Platform's operation, unless expressly allowed by Arduino or by applicable license agreements. This has led to criticism from some members of the maker community, including Adafruit founder Limor Fried and managing editor Phillip Torrone.
Fried and Torrone have questioned why reverse-engineering is prohibited at all, given that Arduino is built on openly hackable systems. They argue that this rule could stifle innovation and hinder the development of new projects based on Arduino's platforms.
The change also includes a new section on "AI Policy" which gives Arduino the right to monitor user accounts and usage of AI products, including features and functions, compute time, and storage. Fried and Torrone have expressed concerns about how data collected from these systems is retained, who has access to it, and why it's only opt-out by not using the features.
Arduino's response to the criticism claims that the changes "clarify" its open-source principles and state that any hardware, software or services released with Open Source licenses remain available as before. However, some users remain worried about Arduino's future under Qualcomm and question why certain language was included in the new terms of service, particularly around patents.
The maker community is now awaiting further clarification from Arduino on how its open-source principles will be upheld under Qualcomm's ownership.
... like, they're saying that you can't just tinker with the software to learn from it or create new projects based on what they've built? that doesn't seem very open-source to me... and now they're monitoring user accounts and collecting data without being transparent about it? that's some sketchy stuff 
... i think arduino needs to explain why they felt the need to add these restrictions in the first place 
i mean i get it arduino has to protect itself but reverse engineering is literally what the makers do best 
and if they can't even decompile the code then what's the point of making open-source projects in the first place? 
let's hope arduino comes clean with some transparency on how they're gonna make this work
. I mean, I get it, companies gotta protect their IP and all that jazz, but come on! Arduino is supposed to be all about open-source goodness 
, not some corporate-controlled monstrosity 
.
. And what's up with the AI policy section? Collecting data on user accounts? That's some major creepiness 
. I hope Arduino clarifies things soon or something... this is giving me the anxiety 
It's like, if someone is reverse-engineering your stuff just to improve it, isn't that kinda the point of making something in the first place?
I don't want some giant corporation watching my every move online. Can't they just keep their data private like everyone else? 
It's not like we're asking for much, just transparency and control over our own creations.
But this new TOS is giving me some major doubts 
this is giving me major flashbacks to when big tech companies started collecting our data without consent...
I mean, what's wrong with a little reverse-engineering, right? It's like, how can we even improve the thing if we're not allowed to take a closer look? 
But at the same time, I guess it is good that Arduino is trying to clarify their open-source principles. Maybe it's just me being paranoid... 
limor fried is totally right in questioning why reverse engineering is even on the table 
. Arduino needs to clarify what's really going on here, stat! 