this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
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The bigger problem is trying to get the mainstream that would read an article like that to understand the technical difference between hacking and accessing unsecured data.
One of the definitions of hacking is illegally gaining access to a computer system. It doesn't need to involve any sort of exploit. Stealing from an unlocked home is still stealing. Gaining access to a system by phishing is still hacking. Leaking data that is technically publicly accessible that isn't meant to be publicly accessible is still hacking.
Not that I suspect anything good from 4chan but the proper thing to do would be to disclose to Tea that their data is public and allow them to fix the problem. The ethics of vulnerability disclosure still apply when the vulnerability is "hey you literally didn't secure this at all."
This is also The legal Definition applied in Germany (with the only difference being, that in Germany it is "gaining access to a system not meant to be accessed). The problem with this is, that everyone who finds security breaches is at threat to be punished for it, even if they ethically disclose it. There have been various cases of ethical hackers receiving fines for disclosing security vulnerabilities.
Same in America. Someone who found a government website had SSNs just sitting in the HTML was almost prosecuted for viewing the raw HTML after ethically disclosing it.