It doesn't make sense to say "authorities should have known better" in the context of making a decision based on falsehoods. It's basically the quote from Animal House - "you fucked up, you trusted [me]". It's a joke, because it's a parody of chutzpah.

We're not at war, and I assume it's perfectly legal to copy information about labs or whatever, so long as you don't incidentally violate any contracts or laws.