Tethered technologies

Tethered technologies are "[t]echnologies that are not generative, such as the iPhone or TiVo, and that do not have the capacity to produce user-driven change. Whereas on a PC any user can write and share code in ways the manufacturer never imagined, on a tethered technology the consumer must use the product in the way specified by the manufacturer. Tethered technologies are not adaptable, nor are they accessible, nor, in some cases, are they particularly easy to master. There’s nothing wrong about these technologies in and of themselves, but as consumers increasingly move away from generative technologies towards tethered ones, the overall capacity for innovation and creation declines."

Source
Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It (Glossary)