There are many different points of view to support both side of this.
What's yours as the tuner or owner?

http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_3017/article.html

This is mines.

There are two sides to this. Both sides have their rights. There are both good and bad points to support both sides. What it boils down to is you asking your tuner if he's going to password protect his work and then base your decision on that. It's always you as the owner and customer that have the last decision.
From a tuner's point of view I make it a point to let the customer know that I password protect my work. If they are not satisfied then they are also informed that a certain amount of refund is involved but also the tune would be returned to the original state it was in the first place.
That's how some of the respected tuners/shops do it here anyway. Please note I said some!
_________________

 

If I had an ongoing maintenance contract with a team/owner, or I was doing sponsorship work, I would password protect the ECU. The rational being: if I have to have ongoing responsibility for a car, then I don't want someone fiddling with the configuration. If I've given someone a deal, I don't want them running off with the gift.