Much like my speculation of why MS can't brick your modded xbox and are rather forced to ban you from Live! as their means, I think people here are getting carried away by a speculation that Apple is deliberately bricking phones. For all we know, the hacked firmware is causing problems updating to a later version.
Until I see a section of code that reads somewhat like this:
if (firmware == hacked) brickThePhone();
else runUpdate();
I am not convinced that it is deliberate. As mentioned earlier by another poster, some people running hacked PSPs end up bricking their device when they run a legit game which forces a firmware upgrade. More often than not it just updates to the new firmware effectively erasing the hacked BIOS. It really is hack at your own risk.
Also, regardless of how one may try to justify one's ability to do anything you want to a device you own, just simply loading hacked firmware is illegal because it breaches the intellectual property and copyright laws. Someone had to reverse engineer the product in order for them to get then modify copyrighted material, which is illegal. Simply by knowingly loading this firmware in makes that individual an accessory to criminal behaviour.
At the end of the day we're discussing a moral dilemma here and not a legal one. I really don't think legally, Apple has to do anything.
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