Comment Re:Why is that legal? (Score 1) 520
Licensing isn't really new. It might be "new to consumers," like people who have never encountered the idea that businesses pay more for things like ASCAP and per seat licensing than they do.
Software is a modern product concept. Ownership of somebody's created work (software, music, whatever) requires some concept of licensing beyond simple possession, just as ownership of land requires more than occupancy.
And yes, everyone seeks to frame things in their interests. Obviously companies will do what they can get away with. But the idea that individuals have some unassailable god-given right to modify software because they possess it is a rather foolish and naive idea. I'm not against modding your Wii/iPod/PC or whatever, but I don't pretend that it is protected by law.
Laws are designed to protect the assets of people who control wealth. They are not there to protect people, except those laws that are put in place within 25 years of the last revolution.