..Um, nobody's hacked it yet CBLMorphis. Perhaps you should study the situation a bit more to fully understand what is and isn't actually happening with this?
First, you can choose not to update.
-no PSN access.
-future blu-ray titles may or may not play
-game patches probably won't come through
-Linux option still works - researchers, gov't, and those who enjoy the freedom to tinker can continue to do so, but the console is not bricked by any means
You can choose to update
-no more Linux
-current updates, blu-ray updates, and PSN access continues to work
Reason for the update? Sony is scared that there MIGHT be a POSSIBLE way to gain further access to the "guts" of the system, which could possibly lead to future hacks.
The implications are thus:
why not remove web browsing - that's certainly a more realistic threat to "security"
why not remove media server access? that's a security risk - talking to other computers on a network...
why not remove mp3 playback? only hackers use that audio format
...point is, this isn't about security for paying customers. It is fear. One guy figures out one very tiny crack in the armor, so to speak. Neither he, or anyone else on the planet was close to coming up with any further hacks (that we know about anyway) that would accomplish anything useful - the only thing "hacked" so far was a possible way to MAYBE get further into the system. Even then, it wouldn't mean anything would come of it.
Sony saw one guy figure out a tiny bit of their hypervisor - their response seems premature.