We are lucky politically, sure. Thankfully our courts and governments still believe in a person's basic rights to digital freedom, and that big business shouldn't rule such things simply because they have more money to throw at fat lawyers than the public does.
Economically, we aren't so lucky. We're still paying 30-100% more for software technology than anyone else in the world. In a market with fixed prices and no competition, we are at the mercy of the big distributors.
So now we have an environment where artificially inflated prices are too high, and mod chips are legal. An interesting mix. I hope the end result is US-style pricing of games. If that's the case, I might actually consider buying a modern console. The last console I purchased was a second-hand DreamCast, and even that was 4X the price that they are available in the US. I'll be stuffed if I'm going to pay $400 for a PSP, or $250 for a PS2.