this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Free software is not automatically private or secure, but it can be. Proprietary software can't.
Why can't proprietary software be private or secure? You cannot verify it for yourself, but nothing about the licensing model precludes it. In highly regulated industries (such as health care or banking), I would expect a very large investment by software vendors into security.
You can disassemble any kind of closed source software and fully analyze it.
But you can't legally modify it and distribute your modified version. You can't fix a vulnerability and share the patched version with others. Only the developer can, so you are at their mercy. If they add spyware into the program, users can't do anything about it.
I think it's a gray area in that if you merely instruct people on it or distribute it as a patcher that contains none of the original code or assets, few would take issue with it, and if they do, their legal position would be much shakier compared to fighting piracy.
That's true. Still it's more difficult for everyone.