For things that are bought and owned, i see absolutely no problem in tampering with the code to have it do whatever the owner wants. Money and goods changed hands, so there is no stealing involved.
For example the bandwidth or options in scopes. The machine _does_ have these things already built in at the moment it is bought. If the manufacturer doesn't like that the 50 MHz scope can be tampered with so as to be a 100 MHz scope, then it is up to them to not include that stuff in the first place. To me that is the exact same as buying a "fixed" analogue scope and then reworking the input and timebase circuitry to give it twice the bandwidth. Only difference is that nowdays, the manufacturer already included the parts needed for that.
Also, i think that there is a huge difference between some software program meant to run on a generic computer and a piece of hardware that includes some firmware. In the latter case the firmware is an integral part of the machine: it can not work without it, unlike for example a CAD program: the computer would still work fine, wether the CAD package is installed or not. So, tampering with a devices firmware is no different than tampering with the hardware circuitry of that machine. Both require each other to work.
Last but not least, let's not forget that many manufacturers love it to throw licenses and crap into the users faces, while at the same time giving crap about these things themselves. Prime example here is the widespread use of Linux (and the busybox program used on most embedded Linuxes). I think that many China scopes (and other gear) use it as well. So, they would be required to offer you at least all the code that is under GPL. If they make changes to such code, they would have to give you that as well. In source code, no less. But you rarely see them doing that right away, more often than not they have to be forced to hand out that stuff. So who are they to whine about users giving a crap about their licenses, when they themselves don't respect the licenses of others?
Keep in mind that on paper, a lot of laws sound rather strong and freedom-limiting. But laws don't exist in a vacuum, they are constrained by other laws. Just take the DMCA style crap for example. Yes, even here in Germany you are not allowed by law to cicumvent a protection scheme. However, if that protection scheme interferes with the allowed use of what you bought, you are free to tamper with it as much as you like. Have a software that requires a dongle to work, but said dongle causes trouble using the printer on the same LPT port? You are allowed to "hack out" that protection. Lost the dongle for a software? Same applies, plus you could even reverse engineer it to make your own dongle if you like. LIcense server causes trouble in your network, or causes vulnerabilities in the network? Feel free to circumvent it then. Copy protection schemes on CD, DVD, etc. causing problems during playback? You can then circumvent it. All that of course is assuming that you previously legally bought the software/media/machine.
Greetings,
Chris