Makers slam Qualcomm for tightening the clamps on Arduino

Qualcomm quietly rewrote the terms of service for its newest acquisition, programmable microcontroller and SBC maker Arduino, drawing intense fire from the maker community for grabbing additional rights to user-generated content on its platform and prohibiting reverse-engineering of what was once very open software.

In a level of open criticism that's unusually frank for Microsoft's corporate-friendly business-networking site, hobbyist electronics vendor Adafruit published a stinging assessment of the rewritten terms and conditions for Qualcomm's new subsidiary Arduino, saying that "the changes mark a clear break from the open-hardware ethos that built the platform."

The New York-based open-source electronics vendor has harsh views about the new Arduino Privacy Policy and new Terms and Conditions. Among its comments, Adafruit's post says:

The new documents introduce an irrevocable, perpetual license over anything users upload, broad surveillance-style monitoring of AI features, a clause preventing users from identifying potential patent infringement ...