[akerro]

>1) Intel has such technology implemented in allmost all desktops/servers currently running

Ever wondered why Google is working on their own CPU?

[macns]

Wondering - when that happens - if their firmware is open source but monitored for ad targeting should we be OK with it?

[wolfgke]

Freedom 1 of the FSF is (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html):

"The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish"

In this sense you should be able to change the firmware (since it is open source in the sense of the OSI definition) and remove the monitoring for ad targeting. If this is not possible, Google's firmware is not open source (see https://opensource.org/osd).

[akerro]

opensource != free software