Comment by wibbily
2 hours ago
IIRC "firmware as hardware" only applies if nobody - not you, not the manufacturer - can update it. I.e. your laptop's BIOS is software, the controller in your washing machine is hardware.
Of course, now washing machines connect to the Internet, so the obvious lines have blurred
I recall it being applied to firmware residing in flash, which is most everything these days (truly non-updateable means mask ROM).
Even without the Internet connection, the firmware in your washing machine can be updated whether by service call or DIY by seeing what chip it uses and how it gets programmed.
Which is why I think it makes sense to talk in terms of software freedom for specific devices / security domains. For example, it's perfectly fine to just admit that your washing machine, wifi card, mouse, network switch, etc doesn't respect software freedom, rather than trying to define one's way out of it. And then if and when you do run into an issue that is made frustrating by a lack of software freedom, you can then opt to remedy this.