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MO: St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter won’t be charged in F12 “hack” case

Posted on February 12, 2022 by Dissent

KMTZ reports some welcome news:

A Cole County prosecutor will not file charges against a reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for the alleged data breach of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website.

Prosecutor Locke Thompson said in a release while reviewing the case that it would not be in the best interest of taxpayers’ money to pursue misdemeanor charges in this case.

Read more at abc17.

Previous coverage of this case can be found here. Some of us would challenge even the “misdemeanor” characterization, but in light of the language of Missouri’s law and the ridiculous posture of its governor, this is a better outcome. But the dismissal of the case doesn’t confirm a key issue that had most tech-savvy people yelling about calling this any kind of a crime: looking at source code of a web page by hitting the F12 key is not a “hack.”  Missouri needs to amend its law to better protect researchers and journalists.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered this news development this way:

Post-Dispatch Publisher Ian Caso said in a statement Friday: “We are pleased the prosecutor recognized there was no legitimate basis for any charges against the St. Louis Post-Dispatch or our reporter. While an investigation of how the state allowed this information to be accessible was appropriate, the accusations against our reporter were unfounded and made to deflect embarrassment for the state’s failures and for political purposes.”

The reporter’s statement:
“This decision is a relief. But it does not repair the harm done to me and my family. My actions were entirely legal and consistent with established journalistic principles.”
Read more on the Post-Dispatch.
Category: Commentaries and AnalysesGovernment SectorOf NoteU.S.

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