I think Sony had reason good enough to close a security exploit.
Still, I think it's a bit dramatic to think that this paves the way for the exploitation of consumers and future reductions of our rights. Consumers will understandably be upset, but I don't think that Sony, or any other corporation, would be willing to start removing things essential to the core use of the system. It is unfortunate that this happened, but it happened with good reason (at least IMO) and in the long run will stand to the benefit of users who value things like a secure platform.
I do wish to take the discussion further and talk about some other things, but I don't want to be banned again for talking modding / hacking / piracy. Maybe we could discuss it privately over PM or something? I think there is a good amount of discussion to be had here, but not good enough to lose my posting privileges over