"Meanwhile, lest we forget, I did just throw down more than $400 for this little toy. I'm no property-rights freak, but that iPhone is now my personal property, and that ought to stand for something."

I couldn't put it better myself. Apple seems to forget that when you buy an iPhone from them, you are buying it -- not just paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege of borrowing Apple's. It was unethical and shocking that they would release an update that causes permanent damage to their own customers! Besides, it's to Apple's benefit for the iPhone unlocking process to be smooth: it opens up their product to more people.

The details of the AT&T deal aren't public, but surely it didn't include sabotaging consumers.

While it may be true that you own the PHONE, the Software License Agreement states this;
"1. General The software (including Boot ROM code and other embedded software), documentation and any fonts that came with your iPhone, whether in read only memory, on any
other media or in any other form (collectively the "iPhone Software") are licensed, not sold, to you by Apple Inc. ("Apple") for use only under the terms of this License, and Apple
reserves all rights not expressly granted to you. The rights granted herein are limited to Apple's intellectual property rights in the iPhone Software and do not include any other
patents or intellectual property rights. You own the media on which the iPhone Software is recorded but Apple and/or Apple's licensor(s) retain ownership of the iPhone Software itself."

You have no rights or 'ownership' as far as the iPhone software goes, and you have no 'rights' as an 'owner' to hack the software (with the exception of the 'firmware' which can legally be 'circumvented' to be 'lawfully connected' to another wireless network). Let's not get these two confused.

As far as intellectual property rights go, this is true. You haven't bought the right to change the software. You have purchased an object. The author is within his rights to "hack" in and change his carrier. But not the actual software. And certain "break seal" license agreements can be fairly debilitating to those who want to legally change things around. That being said, Apple has every right to create updates. You, as the ipod owner don't have a legal obligations to download them.

Beyond legality, the issue of copyright is at times problematic. While protecting the rights of the creator, it can greatly diminish creativity and development in certain cases. I also tend to think that if you take an old thing, change it and make it into a new thing, it isn't the same thing. So that isn't a copyright issue. Fiddle with it, its something new, fine. It is more of a legal LICENSE issue. Basically you agreed to legally NOT fiddle with it. And then you did. Two very different things.

You might think you bought the phone; however, Apple is treating all of the $400 as a one time lease payment for a two year period. In other words, in their accounting books, it is a lease.

As a lot of issues with big companies are, this is an ethical question far more than a legal question; I have no doubt Apple's covered its ass.

That said, though, I have to wonder if they're reaching beyond their own license. If the iPhones are truly being turned into "iBricks" (that cannot be fixed -- that must be replaced), there must be some hardware/firmware change.

So even if they have the right to revoke their software, does that really extend to taking any potential the hardware has too?

You bought an unfinished product. Apple makes software updates available as a convenience to its customers, noone is forcing you to upgrade the phone that you did indeed pay for. If you want better software for it, well, write it yourself!!! Did you get a programming manual? Oops! Hey, you bought it. If you didn't know what you were getting into, that's YOUR fault. Does it occur to you that the wireless companies do not want the iPhone to exist, and that Apple had to take it in the ass to get service? Have you ever had to maintain a complex piece of software? Do you have any idea how hard it is to update the software on a million computers? If this was your job, would you go out of your way to accomodate people who are not using the product according to the instructions? If you try to tow a tandem trailer with your subcompact, do you expect the dealer to fix it for free? Do you think the dealer will have any sympathy for you? Go read up on ethics before you pass judgement on people.