Yes. The community consists of Intel, a Nokia-funded team, and various and sundry individuals.

Two unrelated things. A MeeGo device granting the user root access is something decided by the vendor when they port it to their platform. Vanilla MeeGo will always give you root access.

Which means that it's all up to the sheep, and ideally the non-sheep who AREN'T in favor of being locked out of their devices, to make the carriers and vendors bend over and give you your root access, whether they like it or not.

On a slightly more serious note, is there a way we can make not having root access grounds for a class action lawsuit?

- Edit -

Someone with good legal know-how is welcome to correct me, but unfortunately I'm pretty sure the above wasn't DIRECTLY possible - because there's nothing that the business is doing against American (I can't vouch for others - though you may dig around and find this out) laws on the matter - they are selling a product that they have the legal permission to make unrootable, and unless they explicitly say it WILL be rootable, you won't be able to challenge them on it.

Now, what the American system really needs for a one-hit kill against carriers/vendors preventing rooting is for someone to establish a legal ruling that goes so far as to say that it's an owner's fundamental right to have root/admin access to their devices if they so choose.

Barring someone mobilizing the various governmental institutions against the lobbying power of the network carriers and handset manufacturers, the best alternative would be to blatantly shower every phone maker and service provider with demands for the ability to gain root access (if it requires some effort to do so, that would probably be fine for a compromise for most power users, I'm sure), through the official customer support channels.

Beyond that, actively buying unlocked and unbranded phones (to demonstrate to the carriers that they can suck it), and ones from manufacturers that put the fewest stumbling blocks in place on their MeeGo devices (and being vocal about not liking the locked-ness of the other ones - to the makers you're not buying from, not everywhere else), would be the best long-term gradual strategy - but enough people have to realize that their carriers and handset manufacturers do not have a right to analy-rape them, and then realize that in the long term it's worth it to push for that when possible.