The Arduino blog states, “The Qualcomm acquisition does not modify how user data is handled or how we enforce our open-source principles.”
Arduino’s blog did not discuss the company’s new terms related to the patent, stating:
User shall use the Site and the Platform in accordance with these Terms and for the sole purpose of using the Services properly. In particular, User undertakes not to: … “use the Platform, Site or Services to identify or provide evidence to support any potential patent infringement claim against Arduino, its affiliates, or the suppliers and/or direct or indirect customers of Arduino or any of Arduino’s affiliates.
“No open-source company puts language in their ToS prohibiting users from identifying potential patent issues. Why was this added, and who requested it?” Fried and Torrone said.
Arduino’s new terms include similar language around user-generated content that has been in its ToS for years. The current terms state that users grant Arduino:
Non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, perpetual, irrevocable, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law … to distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, publish, and publicly view all Content, including software, libraries, text content, images, video, comments, text, audio, software, libraries, or other data (collectively, “Content”), to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law… The right to create, publish, upload, or otherwise make available to Arduino throughout the world in any medium and for any purpose, including the use of any username or alias specified in connection with the Content.
“The new language is still broad enough to republish, monetize, and route user content into any future Qualcomm pipeline,” Torrone told Ars. He believes Arduino’s new terms should have clarified Arduino’s intent, narrowed the scope of the term, or explained “why it should be immutable and transferable at the corporate level.”
In its blog, Arduino said the new ToS “makes clear that the content you choose to publish on the Arduino platform remains yours and can be used to enable features you request, such as cloud services and collaboration tools.”
As Qualcomm works toward completing its Arduino acquisition, it appears the smartphone processor and modem vendor will have more work to do to convince manufacturers that Arduino’s open source and privacy principles will be upheld. While the Arduino IDE and its source code will remain on GitHub according to the AGPL-3.0 open-source license, some users are concerned about Arduino’s future under Qualcomm.
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