Comment Re:sad day for those who don't like 4chan trolls (Score 1) 148
How is the law being abused here? Go read the evidence in this case. AT&T set up a system that was designed to automatically populate an e-mail field for the convenience of their customers. They did this by matching two different variables, the user-agent of the iPad web browser and the ICC-ID number from the SIM card contained therein. Two people then discovered that they could fake both of those variables to obtain the personally identifiable information (PII) of AT&T customers. They did this in a deliberate manner while discussing ways of using the obtained information for profit, with ideas ranging from spamming (direct marketing ofiPad accessories to people who obviously owned iPads) to securities fraud (they floated the idea of shorting AT&T's stock when news of the security breech broke) to the enhancement of their own reputation (look how awesome of a security guy I am, I broke into AT&T, buy my consulting services!)
AT&T's failings are not really relevant here. The process of obtaining the PII was sufficiently complicated as to make it readily apparent that the information obtained was not for public consumption. No reasonable person would conclude that they were entitled to access the PII of AT&T's customers. No reasonable person would discover this security flaw then write a script to automate the collection process while exploring methods of using the obtained information for personal financial gain.
Your whole argument can be distilled to three words: Blame the victim.