It's a similar kind of thing. Right after the Aibo came out, people started hacking them to do things like dance. Sony originally tried to shut down sites with tips on how to hack the dog, but either dropped the suits or lost, I don't remember. Either way, it's perfectly legal to do whatever you want with the things you buy. I mean, I could paint the iPhone pink or smash it with a sledgehammer or take it apart and use the pieces to repair something and nobody would complain. It's just that software, as an intangible, has harder to define boundaries.