So this is legal when the FBI does it, but when someone else does essentially the same thing on an AT&T server it's identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization
I think weev's sentence was utter bullshit, but you can't equate the two things. SR was a drug marketplace, AT&T is not. This is like arguing police shouldn't be able to pick the lock of your drug safehouse door because you aren't allowed to pick other people's locks.
On a related note, why the hell didn't they get a warrant? I doubt it would have taken long.
However, to play devil's advocate a bit: the FBI essentially saw the output of the PHP call `print_r($_SERVER)`. The only thing that's actually sensitive in there is the server's IP address and hostname. This is not usually considered sensitive information. If it is to be believed that is as far as they went before getting a warrant (and I don't know if that's the case or not), then obtaining the IP address would allow them to actually serve a court order to the hosting provider. In that sense it could be seen as non-invasive and purely conducive to their investigation.
But I agree there should not be a double standard. I think what weev did was not illegal, and what the FBI did here was not illegal, personally.
Could that have been the source of the ip leak?
For instance, the DEA can buy drugs in order to trace and later apprehend drug suppliers. They don't need a warrant to do this (though information gained from such a sting operation may later lead to a judge issuing a search warrant).
Of course, who watches the watchers? The US government already imprisons people for life without trial or charge, interrogates using the same torture techniques the Soviets used on captured Japanese scientists, and surveils the diplomats of its own allies. It might be, and you know, probably is committing industrial espionage.
At some point you have to raise your head up, see the forest amongst the trees, and just admit that the rule of law is dead in the world. The power asymmetries are too vast, and the people who rule your life know it.
Sure you can equate the two cases. Someone with power decided weev and Ross would be removed from the board and so they were. Let that be a lesson to anyone who could piss off the truly powerful.
Not all warrants are the same, but I've seen them do a lot of damage (broken-down doors, torn up mattresses, general mayhem) in the course of executing a warrant. This seems in spirit with that.
apparently "no-knock" warrants that get issued like mints at a dance allow SWAT teams to flashbang a baby and no one faces criminal negligence charges.
I guess regular warrants will let law enforcement really make us grab our ankles and do whatever they want to us.
SR being a drug marketplace and AT&T "not being a drug marketplace" are irrelevent. Law enforcement is tasked with the EXACT SAME LAWS AS EVERYONE ELSE.
Apparently you like to confuse law and justice with "who's got which legislatures on their payroll and can put people down for accessing their stuff without permission"