Android 4.4 - Blocking Modders or Increasing Security
There’s a fine line between user security and blocking modders, but the thing to remember is that far far far more users will benefit from enhanced security than will ever install a custom ROM, and so making a change which can block malware modifying the core OS seems a reasonable move to me.
Some of these benefits are not direct; Some will say OS modifying malware is rare, but a move like this raises the bar to getting malware like that to work and so will discourage even more people from trying to create it.
If you want to mod your ‘phone it’s down to the OEM to let you install a custom ROM, but if you’re going with their ROM then any measures to ensure it hasn’t been tampered with seem justifiable to me.
Personally I don’t see an OEM not providing a method to install a custom ROM as hugely objectionable. You buy a product, if you want to modify it you should check it is modifiable in that way, and if you don’t then you shouldn’t expect much sympathy if you start complaining after you’ve bought it.