Now HP and Compaq are Bricking like Apple

Exploit Found to Brick Most HP and Compaq Laptops

"A security researcher calling himself porkythepig has published attack code that can supposedly brick most HP and Compaq laptops. The exploit uses an ActiveX control in HP's Software Update. It would 'let an attacker corrupt Windows' kernel files, making the laptop unbootable, or with a little more effort, allow hacks that would result in a PC hijack or malware infection.' The same researcher last week outlined a batch of additional vulnerabilities in HP and Compaq laptops, for which HP later issued patches."

Sorry I forgot to include the link it.slashdot.org...

I don't know what is happening today, how can companies get away with this stuff. If I bought the software or hardware no matter what it is shouldn't I be able to reverse engineer it. If you have a car is it illegal to take it apart and see how it works? No!

So what makes it different with something like the iPhone, oh it cuts into our profits? Well we bought it so stop being greedy and let us do what we want. In fact the act of bricking should be considered illegal as it is an unintended destructive mode of operation.

Does anyone else agree or have a conflicting opinion.