There is quite a bit of unwarranted extrapolation in this article; probably a result of the writer’s own bias and his desire to elicit an emotional response.
Here is the one fact I read in the article: Apple is using their device’s hardware and software to come up with ways of protecting that device from unauthorized use.
Here is the writer’s spin: Apple is trying to flag down jailbreakers and brick their iDevices. Apple is trying to be Big Brother.
Personally, I don’t see that the latter follows from the former. This need not be anything other than an extension of their “locate my phone” feature, which has enabled some to recover their stolen iPhones. Note that this feature is optional with a mobileme subscription (I don’t have it). There is absolutely no reason to believe that the “unauthorized user” feature would be the mandatory and pernicious program this writer is making it out to be. Chances are if I want to jailbreak my future iPhone, I will be able to do so and not subscribe to the ‘unauthorized user” feature. On the other hand, I can see where corporate users might be want to be able to promptly locate and recover a stolen device, and to make sure it is not accessed by someone else. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gray Powell had something to do with this patent.
I do agree that this needs to be raised as an issue and I’m sure it will be if Apple does include this patent in a future iOS update. However, the leap made here, that the patent means Apple is going after jailbreakers, is not warranted by the patent.