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Malware /
By type /
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Malware /
By type /
Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers, which puts them in a position of power over the users; that is the basic injustice. The developers and manufacturers often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.
This typically takes the form of malicious functionalities.
One kind of malicious functionality is censorship of what users can access. Here are examples of programs which do this. We have a separate list of proprietary systems that censor installation of application programs (we call them “jails”).
Selling products designed as platforms for a company to impose censorship ought to be forbidden by law, but it isn't.
If you know of an example that ought to be in this page but isn't here, please write to <webmasters@gnu.org> to inform us. Please include the URL of a trustworthy reference or two to serve as specific substantiation.
Apple mainly uses iOS, which is a typical jail, to impose censorship through the Apple Store. Please refer to Proprietary Jails for more information.
Google offers censorship software, ostensibly for parents to put into their children's computers.
On Windows and MacOS, Chrome disables extensions that are not hosted in the Chrome Web Store.
For example, an extension was banned from the Chrome Web Store, and permanently disabled on more than 40,000 computers.
Google censored installation of Samsung's ad-blocker on Android phones, saying that blocking ads is “interference” with the sites that advertise (and surveil users through ads).
The ad-blocker is proprietary software, just like the program (Google Play) that Google used to deny access to install it. Using a nonfree program gives the owner power over you, and Google has exercised that power.
Google's censorship, unlike that of Apple, is not total: Android allows users to install apps in other ways. You can install free programs from f-droid.org.
The Nintendo 3DS censors web browsing; it is possible to turn off the censorship, but that requires identifying oneself to pay, which is a form of surveillance.
The company behind Zoom does not only deny users' computer freedom by developing this piece of nonfree software, it also violates users' civil rights by banning events and censoring users to serve the agenda of governments.
Freedom respecting programs such as Jitsi or BigBlueButton can be used instead, better still if installed in a server controlled by its users.
As of 2021, preinstallation of Russian-made proprietary software has been mandatory on new computers and “smart” devices sold in Russia, under threat of a fine for the retailer, and the list of mandatory applications keeps growing. This gives the government a convenient way to censor information, spy on people's online activity, and restrict free speech.
New Amazon worker chat app would ban specific words Amazon doesn't like, such as “union”, “restrooms”, and “pay raise”. If the app was free, workers could modify the program so it acts as they wish, not how Amazon wants it.
Some Xiaomi phones have a malfeature to bleep out phrases that express political views the Chinese government does not like. In phones sold in Europe, Xiaomi leaves this deactivated by default, but has a back door to activate the censorship.
This is the natural result of having nonfree software in a device that can communicate with the company that made it.