But maybe the actual loss caused by the automated downloads in this case wasn't high enough and they pushed the criminal angle to make some kind of point.
I suspect that too. I'm just surprised it got as far as a jury ruling in their favor in a criminal case, instead of being thrown out earlier on it's lack of merit.
And that's probably what determined the result. The courts are not run by stupid people, they don't like that the system is exploited.
I agree.
But also, breach of contract can only occur if there is an actual contract. Speaking generally - if I purchase software then a contract would exist (offer/acceptance/money changing hands) and the terms would come into play.
If I was simply a visitor to a website then I think it would be harder to argue a contractual relationship exists.
They also, it may be worth noting, won on the copyright claims.
I don't see any reason why e.g. a website that prominently displays a notice saying that scrapping tools aren't welcome and that puts in place reasonable measures to prevent scrapping tools from being used, shouldn't be protected by the law of trespass from people that deliberately evade these preferences. Likewise, I don't see a banned HN poster that creates a new account shouldn't be considered a trespasser. Of course there are issues of prosecutorial discretion and limited law enforcement resources, but that's a separate question than what should or shouldn't be criminal.
As far as I know, the laws against trespass in the physical world derive from common law. It's a shame we don't have a similar common-sense starting point for computing law; but computing is so new (and to many people so esoteric) that few of us have had a chance to develop something like "common sense" about it.
The result is that the correct analogy for a situation isn't always obvious. For instance, we could go with the ever popular car analogy: Corporate players want their (public facing) servers to be treated under law not as stores open for business but as cars on a dealer's lot that you're welcome to test drive with permission but that it's illegal to just grab and take for a joyride.