If I may add on to your points, I think if this would've blown up out of proportion it wouldn't actually have helped even if Apple came and made an official sta

If I may add on to your points, I think if this would've blown up out of proportion it wouldn't actually have helped even if Apple came and made an official statement saying that these rumours are false. Nobody believes Apple in such cases, not even the fans. On the contrary, people would be even more convinced that they are indeed making a new consumer lockout mechanism, and the forums would then be people taking sides, pro or anti-Apple.