What about vendors that add tethering after the fact? That’s far worse behavior, but even that has not been enough to change the status quo.

My GoPro camera once worked fine without signing into their service. Then one day they forced me to create an account and log in, just to continue to use the app to control my hardware.

This pissed me off so much that the camera was “accidentally” destroyed not long after, but not before thinking hard about tying it to a brick and returning it via their corporate office window. Now, I tell everyone that will listen to avoid buying their products. Shame on them and any company that does such despicable things to their own customers.