They may very well have violated the law as it is actually written.

Beeper is lucky they weren't sued under the DMCA anti-circumvention clause, as they clearly were bypassing the technological measures Apple uses to prevent genuine devices from connecting to iMessage & Apple services.

I think you’re likely right though. If they had such a claim I think their lawyers would have been on it instantly.

That’s why I mentioned the CFAA. Accessing servers without someone’s permission is the exact kind of thing people have gotten very stiff punishments for under the CFAA in the past. It’s basically the main reason I know the law exists, stories about peoples ridiculous punishments for relatively benign things.

Sure it’s useful for real things. I bet you can prosecute ransom under it. Or hacking to break into a rival company.

But it’s also great for when someone embarrasses a politician with stuff that they published on their own website and “something has to be done”.