The crappy thing is that the psycho CEO that filed charges is 100% right. The journalist willfully and knowingly committed a data breach. There are no provisions in the law for "I did it for a good cause" or "I only demonstrated that it was possible."

Of course if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to write a story about it and the security holes would not have become public knowledge.

The laws in these areas are insanely antiquated and this is not the first time investigated people in power have tried to use them to silence or smear journalists. Freedom of speech is threatened.