Just wait until government and industry lobbyists get their hands on it. The powered PEX expander or wire terminal crimpler will need someone who's in the database as having the proper license in order to enable it after you buy it. You cross state lines and your tools won't work because you won't have the valid license. You try and use your tools near the property line and it won't let you because the DB has the wrong coordinates and thinks you're trying to work at the facility next door and you need to be in the union to do that. Of course the company will sell you the unlocked version of the $200 tool for $3k. If you bring too many power tools from different owners to a the same place and that place isn't in the DB as having a building permit the building inspector will show up with some thin veneer of parallel construction.
(Hopefully pressure from the low end tool manufacturers who try and compete on value keeps these kinds of things from happening.)
> Hopefully pressure from the low end tool manufacturers who try and compete on value keeps these kinds of things from happening.
Looking at the sad state of TVs (where the cheap brands just hop on the bandwagon and make a quick buck), I am not very hopeful. Everyone will be as consumer-hostile as they can get away with if they think they can make a few cents that way.
(Hopefully pressure from the low end tool manufacturers who try and compete on value keeps these kinds of things from happening.)