So, it looks like the upcoming firmware upgrade turns unlocked iPhones into bricks. Well, that’s the risk you take when you install unauthorised patches to a device’s firmware; it’s always a dangerous thing to do, and you can’t really expect Apple to pick up the pieces for you when it goes wrong. What does really get to me, though, is the attitude to unlocking your phone; Steve Jobs is on the record as saying “It’s a constant cat and mouse game” against the people who want to do so. OK, what the f*ck has it got to do with him what someone does with their phone once they’ve bought it. Really? All these people want to do is use the thing (for which he’s already got his money) on a different carrier to AT&T. Hell, to get the phone, they’ve already signed up for an AT&T contract (or someone has,) so who’s really losing out?

This attitude that big business has is really, really starting to get to me. Why shouldn’t I mod the firmware in my phone, once I’ve paid for it, to be able to use it on my network of choice? No, forget that, why should I have to? Why can’t I buy an xbox game in the US and play it on my xbox here in the UK? Why should I have to re-buy all my DVDs just because I move to another country and can’t get a region 2 player? Why do I have to worry every time I buy a CD whether it’s going to consent to be put on my iPod?

Where do these big companies get off telling us, the consumers, what we’re allowed to do with things that we have already bought and paid for? It’s utterly out of line, and it’s worrying just how accepted a part of modern life it’s become. Something has to change. It’s time we collectively remembered that without our money, these companies, who presume to control our lives, have no income and no existence. Fundamentally, they only get away with it because we let them. Isn’t it time we didn’t?