weev went to jail for adding 1 to a number on a URL... They can do anything they want to you if they decide to...

It’s a little more complicated than that... He didn’t just visit URLs, but downloaded that data, saved it, and posted it up somewhere else. Regardless of the “hacking” charge, posting people’s data is taking it too far. If he had just used it as a POC, that’d be different.

Despite obvious differences both in societal import and trivial details, weev's case was like a practice run for Assange's. Not only is the government using the same playbook, but the character assassins in traditional and social media are as well.

Sure, but what was the intent?

Did you crack a hash as some part of a computer contest?

Or were you helping someone crack the hash with the intent to get access to a US DoD government computer?

The way the law is apparently written, the first is not illegal. The second would be conspiracy.

Neither but yes you're right for both.