Hear, hear.<p>I'd take a slightly different approach though - I will actively search out and support groups and companies that allow me to truly own my hardware. Be that Jolla, Pandora or various stumbling-but-slowly-getting-better Kickstarter projects.
Why do we need a manifesto for "hardware"? Does this not fall under the general-purpose hacker philosophy? Knowledge should be free, and we should be free to learn and experiment with the things we own.<p>I understand the reasons why hardware's become relevant again, but the pendulum's swinging too much in the direction of a dichotomy, in a time when hardware and software are becoming anywares.
"It started at the age of five"<p>Come'on, you don't even have proper memory at that age. And then "to figure out how it worked", sure. We all dissected electronics when we were young, but that is hardly what I would call hacking. I don't get people's obbsession with bragging about how early they start. I guess it's since most hackers (pg, esr, Linus etc.) have these stories how early they start and somehow people think they need to do so to become great programmers (or hackers). It's not all bad though, I remember how motivating it was reading about those stories at young age.