Should manufacturers be allowed to block 3rd-party batteries?

The news of Panasonic's firmware update blocking 3rd party batteries under the reasoning (or pretense) of "safety" is starting to make the rounds in the techie blogosphere. We've already whined about it in the G1/GH1 diary, but now more websites are pointing out that this sounds like a test-case for manufacturers to block 3rd-party batteries. I guess the other manufacturers are feeling jealous of how Apple can put its users in a box and throw away the key without any major resistance ;-)

More coverage of this at Register Hardware, Engadget, Slash Gear, Gizmodo and many more.

This continues to pick up momentum, now discussed at Digital Camera Review.

PS: By "allowed" we mean allowed by the market, the users, the retailers, etc. We are NOT suggesting the creation of a bureaucracy that decides what accessory should be allowed on each camera! But it's probably something that the Consumerist may want to investigate.