When I had my Microtech installed it was unlocked, but due to a dodgey bastard fiddling with it (unkown to me) my tuner locked it after he fixed it for free, his side of the story was that it was my tune, as I had paid him to do it, and I could leave it unlocked if I wanted, but he pointed out that he would rather it locked as all it takes is someone to plug in with a laptop and copy it, and that also a locked ECU is legal as the AFR's (emissions) are gauranteed by him.