You're not. Ordinary people don't even know that you can do that.
It also doesn't take a computer whiz to use DownThemAll to enumerate URLs and download them all. They even have a dedicated function for this!
Yes, one does have to have some computer literacy to be able to do that. No, they don't have to be out of the ordinary.
Incrementing URLs by hand is one of the ways I learned about how the internet works, as a young kid. Kids are curious. This is normal behavior!
I remember a teacher yelling at me for trying some slightly advanced features in a hardware design language. I was really proud I could implement something I didn't thought possible, but her reaction was along the lines "Do you want attention? Why can't you just stay quiet and do what the rest of the class does without showing off?".
Stifling creativity and curiosity, especially in children, encouraging them to be mediocre "like ordinary people" is disgusting and counter productive.
> Aaahh, he crashed my computer!
Went the teacher. Which then swiftly closed my unsaved document. 15 minutes of work, gone. As well as any remaining trust I had for her. I had done something unexpected, and she was afraid.
I don't think I was quite able to articulate it at the time, but she would have made a fine witch hunter. I do recall a sense of unpredictability though, and reminded myself not to step on that tiger's tail ever again.
It's not a technical shell game. If you asked your mom, "hey, do you think they meant to have people be able to access those documents, where you can only get to them by editing numbers in the URL," she would say "no." That's what defines what is legal or not in this context.
https://www.google.com/search?q=robodialer\
If you asked your mom, "Am I free to access all the public-facing information on the Government Freedom of Information server", what would she say? The technical details of how to make the connection are irrelevant. My mother doesn't know how to connect to a BBS, does that mean that anyone accessing a BBS is breaking the law?
No, she would say "I don't know what you're talking about, can you put that in plain English?" And then you could get her to give any answer you wanted by phrasing the plain English appropriately.
Good thing computers use unambiguous protocols to communicate explicit intent.
> If you asked your mom, [...] That's what defines what is legal or not in this context.
I'm really terrified of a world where the law is made by asking laypeople what they think. Just like we don't define borders by asking random strangers on the street where countries are, I don't see how it's a good idea to define laws for technical services and protocols by asking people who barely understand computers what they think.