The role of a lawyer is to make persuasive arguments in their clients favor, and those arguments are supported by a wide spectrum in strength of evidence and legal opinion.
Completely baseless stuff can get lawyers disbarred, but many things are shades of gray. The way the CFAA is written, just about any security research on someone else's machine that doesn't include "we got permission in advance" often falls into this gray area.
The fact that the DOJ doesn't prosecute good-faith security research is DOJ policy, not actual law. The law as-written doesn't have a good-faith exemption.
Completely baseless stuff can get lawyers disbarred, but many things are shades of gray. The way the CFAA is written, just about any security research on someone else's machine that doesn't include "we got permission in advance" often falls into this gray area.
The fact that the DOJ doesn't prosecute good-faith security research is DOJ policy, not actual law. The law as-written doesn't have a good-faith exemption.