“Meltdown and Spectre are errors. Grave errors, to be sure, but not evidently malicious. Everyone makes mistakes.
Intel has done far worse with its CPUs than make a mistake. It has built in an intentional back door called the Management Engine.
Important as these bugs are, don’t let Intel’s mistakes distract you from Intel’s deliberate attack!”
by Free Software Foundation president Richard Stallman
With security issues like the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities discovered in Intel chips in early 2018, it became more important than ever to talk about the necessity of software freedom in these deeply embedded technologies. Serious as though these bugs may be, we cannot let them distract us from the broader issues: Intel considers the Intel Management Engine a feature, while it’s nothing more than a threat to user freedom. Take a look to Denis GNUtoo Carikli article which provides a new basis for that conversation.