Is it legal for a journalist to assist another person in invading someone's home, for the purpose of obtaining information that could be published?
It is not. It's very illegal, for good reason.
It's also illegal to do the same thing with a computer system.
People need to start thinking about information systems as property, in the same way that your house is your property, and your car is your property. In this case, the information system is government property, which for some reason many people believe gives us special license to take whatever we want from it. But the same principle applies to the property of private individuals, including you.
So do you really want to live in a world where the governing maxim is that information wants to be free, and that justifies any and all means of getting to it, including breaking into secure information systems?
That sword cuts both ways.
It is not. It's very illegal, for good reason.
It's also illegal to do the same thing with a computer system.
People need to start thinking about information systems as property, in the same way that your house is your property, and your car is your property. In this case, the information system is government property, which for some reason many people believe gives us special license to take whatever we want from it. But the same principle applies to the property of private individuals, including you.
So do you really want to live in a world where the governing maxim is that information wants to be free, and that justifies any and all means of getting to it, including breaking into secure information systems?
That sword cuts both ways.