DRM’ed power adapters?

The New Scientist is reporting that Apple has issued a patent to, in its basic form, issue separate unlocking keys so that a device, such as a MacBook, is tied to a certain charger. If you lose the charger, the charger is stolen, or the device is stolen, another charger cable will not work with the device, thus rendering it dead once it reaches 0% on the battery.

As Mat Lu at TUAW said, we both like the idea of creating a way to prevent theft, but the idea of preventing third party companies from creating low-cost adapters (and isn’t Apple all about third-party accessories?) just doesn’t fly well with me. As pointed out by Mat also, the reason why we haven’t seen any replacement power adapters is because the new MagSafe idea is patented and must be licensed before third party vendors can develop an adapter, while on the old pre-Intel adapters no patents were issued for the plug itself.

What’s your opinion on the idea of a locked down, DRM-managed power adapter for your Apple products?

Via [TUAW]