Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, that's got to be a carrier thing. iPads do not "require activation," and many iPads are wifi-only. I'm not saying this isn't a problem, but I am extremely skeptical it is a problem caused by Big Bad Evil Apple doing Big Bad Evil things.
How do you figure this problem is not caused by Apple, when I bought the iPad outright from Apple and only used the carrier for monthly-paid network access?
This could be (and I suspect very likely is) a problem with your iPad's SIM that you could check by powering off the iPad, removing the SIM and turning it back on again. It could be that there's some kind of corruption that you might need to fix by connecting it up to iTunes or even bringing to the dreaded Genius Bar. It could conceivably be some weird bug in iOS that has somehow sprung up and turned your iPad into a flat flowerpot. All of these things suck! But what it is not is Apple forcing you to "authorize" your iPad in order to let it boot up.