> I'm pretty sure companies would be happy to brick your computer for trying to access unlicensed copy of "their" data, if it wasn't for legal consequences that would follow.

FTDI actually attempted to brick counterfeit chips via their Windows driver: See for example

> http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ftdi-driver-kills-fake-...

(HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8493849 ).