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I'd like to remark that your argument is not valid: To know that your system won't spy on you, all you need is open code (transparency). You don't need it to be free.

Theoretically, you can have a completely unfree system that is completely open at the same time.

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I don't see how that invalidates my argument. I don't mention paid vs unpaid at all, just closed and open.

I didn't mention paid vs. unpaid, either. I was speaking about 'free' as in 'free software' vs. proprietary. My point was that you can have a proprietary system that is open.

For reference, this was the argument I was replying to:

> … if there's even one proprietary bit of executable code, you can't guarantee your system isn't spying (or capable of spying) on you.

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