> 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

> 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-ftdi-ft232/msg536298/#msg536298 http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ftdi-driver-kills-fake-... (HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8493849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8493849 ).