Proprietary firmware

Proprietary firmware is any firmware on which the producer has set restrictions on use, private modification, copying, or republishing.

Proprietors may enforce restrictions by technical means, such as by restricting source code access, firmware replacement restrictions, or by legal means, such as through copyright and patents.

Proprietary firmware may be considered a subset of proprietary software.

Examples

* Breathalysers [ [http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2145410/judge-gets-bottom-possible] ,Drunk drivers granted access to breathalyser source code]
* Most BIOSes found in IBM-compatible Personal Computers;
* ARCS, used in computers from Silicon Graphics;
* RTAS (Run-Time Abstraction Services), used in computers from IBM;
* The iPod's control menus
* Cisco IOS.
* Device drivers or binary blobs (for Wireless LAN, Video Cards etc)

See also

*Proprietary software
*Firmware
*ROM image
*BIOS
*LinuxBIOS
*Microcode
*Binary blob

References