I do disagree with you. Proprietary firmware and proprietary hardware does make you less free. But if the rental agreement you have with them is good enough for you, why would I bash you for it, you know?
Its why RISCV is exciting in the CPU space to me. Its more free (even if the IP under it is proprietary). Every step we take towards it advanced the field to me. Again though, if you are renting any piece of the stack, it's still better that you own what you can to do what you/want then just giving into the "you will own nothing" push.
Just gotta take the wins where we can, celebrate the work, and keep working, you know?