I.

This is a case where Stallman pushes the notion that software freedom === individual freedom. This notion, while defensible, is not necessarily true, and so the assessment that Android phones can't be said to respect my freedom sounds wild and passionate but while being hardly informative.

Freedom is one of those words which go deep with most people, but which for the same reason have come to mean a bunch of different, oft-contradictory things. (For some definition of freedom, the GPL can't be said to respect my freedom either.)

  II.

The problem here is that Google had commited itself to releasing Android's source code. Withdrawing from it is exactly the same kind of thing as Sony's withdrawing multiboot from the PlayStation: they sold us something and now they're taking it away.

In that sense is Android not respecting our freedom: some of us chose Android because of something that was being offered — something Google was commited to — and now that we've voluntarily locked ourselves into that platform, Google takes that decision factor away from us.

Stallman has this weird ability to get cherry-picked for his most passionate quotes. Although I not always agree with him, it's important that we go a bit deeper and try to figure out his actual reasoning.