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"If this situation existed anywhere else where we paid tens of thousands of dollars, people would be outraged."

oh you mean like your iphone? or how about your android? or the software that runs your television? or how about your car?

you're locked out of software products all the time and (almost) no one is outraged. the people who care diligently go to work to jailbreak the device and everyone else enjoys something that "just works"...

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If you paid tens of thousands of dollars for your Android phone, you might want to check out the better prices available at http://www.google.com/nexus/.

Also, to answer your real question and not the hyperbole: you aren't locked out of your iphone or Android with anything like the security of the device he's describing. No one cares about installing software on their TV -- mine doesn't even have an obvious port by which this could be accomplished -- and cars share the same liability structure as medical devices, probably. Plus many of them are actually quite easily programmable.

My TV has a USB port for firmware updates ;)

Except there are laws specifically designed to stop people jailbreaking some devices.

See WIPO treaty and the DMCA as examples.

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