His comment provides a hint that fragmentation happens because device ownership does not provide an adequate means to update or access the device&#x27;s firmware.<p>For lots of devices out there (sans Google Nexus-devices and other honest exceptions), the device firmware is locked down and you need to find and exploit vulnerabilities in the firmware to gain access and fully assert device-owners. While hobbyist hackers often are able to produce updated firmware (look at OpenWRT and Android if you need proof), actually gaining access to upload that firmware typically requires more expert knowledge. And thus most devices remain locked down for their full lifetime.<p>As more devices become smart and have the capability to work <i>against you</i> given hostile firmware (TVs, fridges, etc), this becomes more and more important.<p>We should legally be allowed to actually own the devices we buy, but if the firmware is locked down and out of reach, we can never truly own it anyway.<p>The devices can be (some already are, sans spying TVs) programmed against us. How can we know? How can make sure they don&#x27;t?<p>Not to go all Stallmansque, but I find this deeply worrying and very unethical.<p>We need to require open access to firmware everywhere, for everything. Asking for all original firmware to be open is clearly unrealistic, but at least give us access to provide our own should we want to.