&quot;Without Stallman&#x27;s foresight of the need for public domain open source software, there would only be proprietary software, all subject to PRISM.&quot;<p>Or proprietary, shared-source software provided by nonprofits or companies in jurisdictions that aren&#x27;t surveillance heavy. No, you don&#x27;t need FOSS to avoid PRISM lol. It has its advantages in resisting totalitarianism for sure but you don&#x27;t actually need them. More of author or organization&#x27;s intent and licensing that really matters. Many models available.<p>Btw, the first, secure-ish mainframe OS (MCP of Tron fame) was sold in source form by Burroughs with fixes&#x2F;updates allowed to be submitted. In 1963. High-assurance stuff under Orange Book similarly had to deliver source that was reviewed and provided a way to know you had same copy. Just to support my claim that there&#x27;s proprietary models for it but most just wanted money instead. ;)