If this sort of thing were ubiquitous on the market for years, it would eventually become common knowledge that laptops brick themselves after being stolen. In which case it would very probably reduce laptop theft.

That's an awfully long haul down the road from here, though, and quite a few concerns to deal with along the way.

None of this is carved in stone, of course. Intel's software-readable CPU serial numbering raised privacy concerns and was retired, for example.