This is obviously horribly illegal and unethical, but it does sort of appeal to that same small part of my brain that longs for things like violent proletariat revolution. Imagine if some greyhat security outfit intentionally bricked tens of thousands of these devices. Buyers would be pissed, go to the manufacturer for recompense, possibly to the level of bankruptcy, and there would finally be some incentive for taking IoT security seriously.

I'm not saying someone should do it... but I'm not saying someone shouldn't do it.