Pointing out that open source electronics platform Arduino is secretly rewriting its terms of use and privacy policy and dying



The Italian open-source electronics platform ' Arduino ' offers microcontroller boards that allow users to get started with electronics and programming, and is used by a wide community of users, from beginners to advanced users. Arduino was acquired by the American semiconductor company Qualcomm in October 2025, but since then, the company has quietly been rewriting its terms of use and privacy policy , which has led to criticism that it is 'clearly breaking away from the open hardware spirit on which the platform was built.'

#opensource #privacy #techpolicy #hardware #iot #surveillance #qualcomm #arduino #makers #infosec #datarights #termsandconditions #cloudcomputing | Adafruit Industries | 123 comments
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adafruit_opensource-privacy-techpolicy-activity-7396903362237054976-r14H



Qualcomm announced its acquisition of Arduino on October 7, 2025. Qualcomm explained that the acquisition will combine Qualcomm's edge technology, AI, graphics, and computer vision capabilities with Arduino's simplicity, affordability, and community to enhance developer productivity across industries. The release also stated that Arduino will continue to develop microcontrollers and microprocessors incorporating chips from multiple manufacturers while maintaining its independence in brand, tools, and mission.

Qualcomm acquires open source platform Arduino - GIGAZINE



However, Adafruit Industries, a manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment, said in a LinkedIn post that Qualcomm-owned Arduino is quietly undergoing major rewrites of its terms of service and privacy policy, pointing out that the platform is undergoing changes as a result of Qualcomm's acquisition.

According to Adafruit Industries, the new terms of use and privacy policy include the following changes:

You have an irrevocable, perpetual license to everything you upload.
Extensive surveillance-style monitoring of AI capabilities
- Clauses that prevent users from identifying potential patent infringement
-Keeping usernames for years even after account deletion
Integrate all user data (including data from minors) into Qualcomm's global data ecosystem

These changes effectively transform Arduino from an open community platform into a 'tightly controlled corporate service with detailed data extraction built in,' Adafruit Industries points out, adding, 'Most strikingly, users are now explicitly prohibited from reverse engineering or even attempting to understand how the platform works unless authorized by Arduino.'

Philip Trone, president of Adafruit Industries, strongly criticized the company's new privacy policy and terms of use, saying, 'It's like replacing a bootloader with spyware.'



Adafruit Industries' post has received comments lamenting the demise of Arduino, such as 'It was so good to know you, Arduino. Rest in peace,' and 'This will be a huge blow to academic robotics research.' Others have called for the next platform, with one saying, 'It looks like an opportunity has opened up for new open source companies.'

The move has also become a hot topic on Hacker News, where some have lamented the significant changes to the platform that Qualcomm will make following its acquisition. However, others have pointed out that Adafruit Industries' claims are incorrect, as the major changes to Arduino only affect cloud services and do not affect open source hardware projects.

In fact, if we review the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy , we see that 'without prejudice to any ownership rights in the content you publish, you grant Arduino the right to use any content you publish or update on the Platform for the duration of any intellectual property rights.' It also states that while users can delete their content at any time, 'content may be used by other users pursuant to the license and may remain available elsewhere on the Platform even if deleted, insofar as immediate deletion may limit Arduino's ability to comply with requests from competent authorities.' In other words, Adafruit Industries' assertions are partly correct, but may also contain excessive interpretations.

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