Well, I'm going to take the FSF as the authority on what freedom means with respect to software, since it's their term. They clearly view GPLv2 code as less free than GPLv3.
> The manufacturers of these computers take advantage of the freedom that free software provides, but they don't let you do likewise... Freedom means you control what your software does, not merely that you can beg or threaten someone else who decides for you.
- If I take the Linux kernel 3.10.6 and create a piece of hardware that refuses to boot up any other version, Linux kernel 3.10.6 is still free software.
The FSF defines freedom in terms of the four freedoms: use, modify, copy, distribute. When people started abusing the GPLv2 in ways they didn't think about, they came out with the GPLv3 to protect these freedoms.
I think your argument is really with the FSF. There was no shortage of drama when Linus refused to upgrade the Linux license to GPLv3.
Tivoization removes the freedom to modify your software (and still have it run). Again, quoting the FSF about tivoization:
> Freedom 1 includes the freedom to use your changed version in place of the original. If the program is delivered in a product designed to run someone else's modified versions but refuse to run yours — a practice known as “tivoization” or “lockdown”, or (in its practitioners' perverse terminology) as “secure boot” — freedom 1 becomes a theoretical fiction rather than a practical freedom. This is not sufficient. In other words, these binaries are not free software even if the source code they are compiled from is free.
I don't know what else to say. The FSF writes, "these binaries are not free software". They're referring to Tivoized Linux binaries. They get to make up the rules here. That includes changing their mind about freedom such that something that was formerly totally free is now less free.
FWIW, I'm not advocating for or against GPL software.
> Well, I'm going to take the FSF as the authority on what freedom means with respect to software, since it's their term.
No, it's not "their" term. They didn't invent and trademark term "Free". People were always using this word in context of software to mean that something is free of charge, and that is still the major usage of the term if you go asking users of the actual software.
I don't care about FSF at all, but it bothers me when people assume that "free" could only possibly mean "Free (tm) (c) FSF". The term existed long before FSF with completely different meaning, which is still retained by >90% of the users.
It's only the developers (and lawyers) that argue whether GPL, BSD, MIT or any other software is "free", free or not free. The users call it free if they can use it without paying for it, and that's all that matters to them.
We have two perfectly fine terms 'free software' and 'freeware' to denote programs that are distributed under a license compatible with the ideals of the free software movement and for software that's distributed free of charge.
Of course the free software movement doesn't own the term 'free', but context matters.
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/rms-why-gplv3.html
Quoting the relevant bits about tivoization:
> The manufacturers of these computers take advantage of the freedom that free software provides, but they don't let you do likewise... Freedom means you control what your software does, not merely that you can beg or threaten someone else who decides for you.