I don't really understand why the tech-focused crowd has taken this up as some kind of proxy fight when by-and-large we gave up having root access to the machines we do our day-to-day work on decades ago.
I'm not working in software any more (hopefully I won't have to ever again), but when I was this was a dealbreaker.
Speak for yourself. I've had root access to my dev machine at every job I've worked.
In any case, not having root access because one's employer owns the machine is locking things down for security is very different to not having root access because the manufacturer prevents even the owners from having root access.
It's a perfect proxy to fight for software freedom and Right-to-repair, because it mobilizes legislators from nebraska and other non-technical folks to speak up about issues that us programmers and techies have been harping about for decades.
Software has zero production costs and this enables all sorts of uses, moral and not.
Edit: Or a thread about how users in western countries should not be allowed to run TikTok on their own devices because: China.
However DMCA has yet to be challenged in the U.S Supreme Court so that is unsettled law.