Let's take this baby for a spin, and see what it can do!

[JennyHallu]

Perhaps the creation of the Ring was a mistake of massive hubris.

And as for their effect on the Three, perhaps all the rings worked like light-energy, on a certain frequency and bandwidth (this is of course all hypothetical, and worse, mostly figurative...but hopefully you'll get the idea)

Therefore, just like radios operating on the same bandwidth, each interferes with its fellows. They can be used to locate eachother, and some of them were made weak enough (by Sauron's "help") that they could be completely overwhelmed by the power of the one.

The Rings that Sauron helped make can be directly controlled--to a degree. They all corrupted absolutely, but it could only work with the natural desires their bearers already had. With Men, they corrupted their desire for life and power, but the Dwarves desired only wealth, and the corruption of that desire made them too miserly and insular to be useful weapons.

But the Three...they could not be controlled, but I think they could still be heavily interfered with. Sauron could not directly corrupt or reach the bearers, but he knew where they were, and he could subtly affect them. The One could not interfere at a level strong enough to control them, but to affect their reception, to affect the works done with them...to tempt their bearers. I don't think the bearers removed their rings because they felt Sauron could control them; if he could, could they have removed the rings? I think they removed them because they feared the constant temptation, feared the tiny corruptions of their works, whose impact they might not see for millenia.

And as for why the destruction of the One rendered the Three powerless...I think the sudden release of that much power, on the "bandwidth" the Rings were tuned to receive and alter, burned the Rings out, so to speak. Like an EMP.