Maybe it's more like analyzing and publishing the security vulnerabilities of said factory or laboratory. It's not trivially right or wrong to do so. It seems acceptable, because you are helping them make it more secure (right?) yet most societies are quite adamant that it's not, in fact, normal - and legal - to do so. You'll get yourself in quite a bit of trouble if you do that.

Just moving to Nigeria and publishing security bulletins on how to break into Walmarts is still a shaky proposition, but perhaps it's safer than I think it is. The international judiciary is opaque to me.

> The computing world often resembles the lawlessness of earlier eras - where only locally-run fortifications separated civilian farmers from barbarian horsemen. A breach in this wall leads to catastrophe. It needs to be unbreakable. People who maintain fortifications shoulder a heavy responsibility.

Sounds about right. I'm not too happy about it, although I guess this particular era has its advantages as well.