These kernel hacks to improve player security are not at all likely to discourage a thief from stealing the player. As pointed out before, most any thief probably has no clue what the player is - if they are smart enough, yes, they could "read" the labels and marking on the player and look it up on the net, but in the case of Strangeloop's theft, the thief probably tossed the unit out the window after becoming frustrated with it or something, and it was subsequently smashed.

I realize the point here is centralized upon the event that if a thief steals the empeg, figures out what it is, and powers it on, then theretically the security feature would work. Then, once he realized its locked - then what? He could just throw it out - but if he did any research on the net already (ebay...), he might decide to sell it or keep it - how would the security behave if the player software was reloaded, for instance? In this case - one would hope that the thief would graciously return the empeg - maybe realizing that what he did was wrong - and that the player is useless to him.

While a security feature would be nice - I don't think I would ever use it. I typically hide my player from view if I am out somewhere - I usually stuff it under the seat or in the trunk. While parked at my apartment, I always bring it inside. Even at work I always bring the empeg in, but less because I'm afraid it will be stolen. I use it at work to stream tunes to whatever computer I'm sitting at.