It's debatable whether or not they did the right thing. Many security researchers would say that the right thing would have been telling AT&T first, giving AT&T a reasonable amount of time to respond, and only then going to the media.
This also speaks to motives. At the end of the day, I don't really care whether or not weev is a good guy. I do think it's important to be really clear about why he does the things he does, because otherwise you're not having the real conversation. IMHO, it's more important to protect jerks than it is to protect nice guys. It's harder to protect jerks.
Therefore, you're doing the community a disservice if you paint weev as an angel. Let him be who he is. Then defend him if his case merits it.
Tangentially, "many greyhat researchers don't have those ethics or morals" is irrelevant. The question at hand is whether or not weev acted morally, not whether or not he did better than average.
I don't see 'sneak doing anything but saying that A.A. was hit very hard by the Justice Department, and that he deserves the best possible defense and, in the meantime, the least possible disruption to his life. I wouldn't have coughed up bail money, but I admire the hell out of 'sneak for doing that.
He did also claim that weev did the Right Thing. I don't think that assertion is clearly accurate.
It's entirely possible that I'm focusing too much on motive; possibly the end effect (hole fixed) matters more than why weev did it in the first place.
This also speaks to motives. At the end of the day, I don't really care whether or not weev is a good guy. I do think it's important to be really clear about why he does the things he does, because otherwise you're not having the real conversation. IMHO, it's more important to protect jerks than it is to protect nice guys. It's harder to protect jerks.
Therefore, you're doing the community a disservice if you paint weev as an angel. Let him be who he is. Then defend him if his case merits it.
Tangentially, "many greyhat researchers don't have those ethics or morals" is irrelevant. The question at hand is whether or not weev acted morally, not whether or not he did better than average.