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.