[volatile]

This from a piece by RMS in The Guardian "Is Android really free software?" [0] explains his reasoning behind accepting hardware with permanently embedded firmware.

  In any case, the phone network firmware in an Android
  device is not equivalent to a circuit, because the 
  hardware allows installation of new versions and this
  is actually done. Since it is proprietary firmware, in 
  practice only the manufacturer can make new versions 
  – users can't.

  Putting these points together, we can tolerate non-free
  phone network firmware provided new versions of it won't
  be loaded, it can't take control of the main computer, 
  and it can only communicate when and as the free operating
  system chooses to let it communicate. In other words, it 
  has to be equivalent to circuitry, and that circuitry must
  not be malicious.

0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/sep/19/android-fre...

[christianbryant]

Yes, this is a good description. It still isn't ideal, though, but it is a compromise.