> But the problem is, the government is doing it exactly backwards. We need to be punishing AT&T for the fact that Weev gained access. Not punishing the person who got in.

I don't understand this line of reasoning. In any other context we'd be calling this "victim blaming."

The fact that you should have been more careful does not absolve the person who took advantage of that, nor is the government in the wrong for punishing the person who had malevolent intent,[1] rather than the person that was merely careless. Hell, one of the great things about living in a civilized society is that you don't have to be paranoid about your own security--that's why we created government.

The real lesson here is that the internet is now a part of everyone's "normal life," and people are going to expect it to be orderly in the same way other things in their life are orderly. Just as the wild west was tamed, the internet will be tamed, and it will be a good thing (romanticism aside).

[1] And yes, "I'm just dicking with you" is malevolent intent, as anyone who has dealt with a bully knows. Weev is at best a bully, the kind of person who dicks with you just because he can, as a way of showing his power over you. Indeed, most "black hat" hackers fit this bully archetype.