The only hole now is that the steam ID is probably unencrypted, so malicious users can probably troll others by posting the error message on Steam tech support with their victim's steam ID. But since Valve has the balls to release this info, they probably already have some mechanism in place to prevent these trollers from doing so.
I assume they would simply compare the SteamID posted in the forum against the your Steam forum user name, and would have some questions for you if you were posting someone else's Steam ID. Also, while I'm not 100% sure, I think they might have a way of checking what you currently have installed in your Steam folders on your system when you connect, so they could also check if you have Garry's Mod installed, but are not on the list of purchasers.
The cops can come knocking on my door for no reason whatsoever; that doesn't mean I'm going to jail.
True, but it would still be simpler to avoid the hassle and accusations altogether. Most college students generally don't have the spare cash for a defense attorney if they end up facing an overzealous prosecutor who decides to press charges. And if law enforcements decides to confiscate your computer equipment as evidence to prove or disprove it was you (since their warrant after tracking your IP would probably call for taking your computers), you're SOL if your term papers and other assignments were all stored on it. Even if you weren't responsible for what caused the original subpoena for the IP, a lot of college students (and other people) probably have at least a few things on their computer that would have questionable legality.
If the college gets a request/subpoena for an IP address owner, they're going to give the room/resident that the wifi router is in, and that student will have to deal with the consequences. Even if they can eventually show it wasn't actually them, they're the one that will be targeted.
Sharing protected wifi with trusted friends is ok. Leaving a wifi router open in a college dormitory is not a good idea. Connecting to an open wifi connection in a dorm is probably just as bad of an idea, unless you know what you're actually connecting to.
He wasn't guilty of any crime, he was found liable for Tortious Interference in a civil suit (I'm pretty sure tortuitous is an error in the article). There are two flavors of Tortious Inteference - 1) interfering with a business by making false claims against the business or individual's reputation to drive business away. 2) Interfering with a mutual contact between two parties by committing "tort" (a wrongful act)
Basically he can be found liable for Tortious interference because he knew of the employment contract between U of M and Mr Moore, and intentionally induced U of M to breach the contact while he himself has no privilege to induce a breach of contract. Really the key element that the jury has to decide whether or not the blog post constituted tort.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference
Elements
Although the specific elements required to prove a claim of tortious interference vary from one jurisdiction to another, they typically include the following:
1. The existence of a contractual relationship or beneficial business relationship between two parties.
2. Knowledge of that relationship by a third party.
3. Intent of the third party to induce a party to the relationship to breach the relationship.
4. Lack of any privilege on the part of the third party to induce such a breach.
5. The contractual relationship is breached.
6. Damage to the party against whom the breach occurs.
There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.