The Difference Between Hacking and Copyright

There's two pieces of federal law that have been used to go after researchers, whether or not they were hacking. The computer fraud and abuse act of 19 86, c f a a, and the d m c a, divitinal millennium copyright act. And neither one of them carves out any kind of gene or permanent exemption that makes any legal distinction between researcher trying to help and intentionally malicious behavior. It's very hard to justify good will with a paper trail, if that makes sense. Researchers have very rarely found a receptive audience with companies whose products they are testing. But those are corporate policies, not laws, and the laws are not forgiving in this case.