You know, I'm all for free speech and everything like that. And personally, I think that Sony is in the wrong for causing a raucous about the rooting of their system in the first place. It's going to end up costing them much more money than whatever they'll lose by people choosing not to use the server that came with the console that they bought. It's bad publicity too. They'll be seen as a bully, greedy, and oppressive with their software. Not EVERYONE is going to root their PS3 system either. Many people are fine with the way it is.
Now, I do agree with capitalism and Sony's ability to be able to press charges against who they think will be a legitimate subject for their reign of terror. Doesn't mean I think they should though.
What I don't understand are these goobers who expect to get away with this hacking of the PS3 system calling themselves Anonymous. Yea, woohoo, you can hack the system. Now you're in more trouble than you'll ever care to be in for the rest of your life. Doing stupid things of that caliber for a videogame squabble is the real wonder here. Either you're going to have to hide really well, or they'll find you and lock you away for a serious amount of time. Neither of those options sound very enticing to me.
A real hero doesn't hide under a rock and throw dirty tricks from afar. Sony MAKES the PS3. If they didn't, you wouldn't have a console to argue about. So they also have a right to make the rules. Don't like 'em? Make your own console that can be easily rooted by anybody. But I have a feeling that once you do, your views might change.