This is simply a barrier of resources and technology. Let's consider how software became "free". An idealist, an university and a motivated Finnish student, among many others, were able to create two complete, free operating systems and toolchains, on top of which anybody and everybody in the world could build. Now free software is a resounding reality and even increasingly adopted by large corps who were 100% closed in the past.

The germane question is, can a similar revolution happen for hardware? Can motivated individuals, or small groups of people, reasonably hope to design AND manufacture ALL the hardware for a modern computer? The answer is it's quite beyond the bounds of possibility. The tech is too complex, too closely guarded and manufacturing has HUGE upfront costs.

THAT is why hardware is currently completely dominated by a few big players, which allows them (and any other "agencies") complete control to essentially do as they wish.

We were able to make software creation egalitarian. Unless we can do the same for hardware (from ground-up), we will be ultimately controlled and never be in full control.