I have an objection to this kind of attitude by the big companies, to be honest. The thing is, it was their machine, when it was in the store. But as soon as I purchase it, it becomes my machine. And I should be able to choose what I want to do with it.
I don't actually have a PS3 so I'm not affected by this particular decision, but I did make the mistake of buying an iPhone which, I've discovered, is not my iPhone after all. I paid for it in good faith, but it's actually Apple's iPhone, not mine. If it were mine, I could decide what applications I wanted to run on it. Instead, Apple tell me what applications I'm allowed to run on it, and which functions I can use and how I can use them. But not to worry, it's just a phone, right? So all I should be concerned about is using the phone features and not whether I'm allowed to use the Bluetooth hardware? Yeah, right. That's certainly the attitude I should be adopting if I go by your "it's just a games console" opinion. But the reality is, the iPhone is a lot more than a mobile phone and I want to use it as such. Just like the PS3 is a lot more than a Games Console.
So yeah, I view this move by Sony as the very same thing Apple is doing with their iPhones. I'm not shedding tears or getting dramatic, there certainly are bigger problems in the world, no doubt about that, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of it 
Apple Hammer
Hello! This is our national law here in Greece and as far I remember we are the only E.U country supporting this statement. The machine belongs to the customer from the time of purchase at the store and NOT to the company. This is why it is illegal here in Greece for Apple to sell their IPhones locked. I don't know what Sony does. Truth is that customers don't give a shit here if x,y,z is locked until they face a major problem with (e.g trying to install something essential and found that it is forbidden). Anyway, I do not believe that any customer here will protest against Sony since 99.99% of them buy the console just to play games but if the 00.01% gets them to court Sony will will find themselves in some sort of trouble. If the case goes to the supreme E.U court however I can't predict the outcome since I am not aware of the exact E.U regulation.
