>> They could do this without the destroying hardware by linking serial numbers to people, making it trivial to look up who owns a serial number, and then enfor

>> They could do this without the destroying hardware by linking serial numbers to people, making it trivial to look up who owns a serial number, and then enforcing receive stolen property a crime. > Who is they? Apple? The state? The number of ways that could go wrong is endless. Well, Apple, insurance and the state all have their part. The government can enforce the crime of receiving stolen property. However on the other side, is whenever higher dollar merchandise is sold, to also record the owner. We already do this with vehicles and the VIN. Manufacturers already do this for warranty and recalls. And Apple usually also knows who you are from the AppleID, which almost always has payment and addresses on file. And, everything has endless ways it can go wrong. But there's a pretty well known finite ways of it going, with weird legal edge cases. Apple, Insurance, and the state can handle at least the more common cases.