Most of the existing anti-hacking laws pre-date the notion of hacking for good or widespread knowledge of the “digital locksmiths” who are increasingly influencing modern-day digital safety.
These anti-hacking laws have been used by organizations to suppress good-faith security research in the pursuit of limiting negative publicity for the vendor, which nets out to a “chilling effect” on the input from the people the Internet needs to hear from most. If hackers are the Internet’s Immune System, then right now, even in 2023, the Internet still has an auto-immune problem.
“Safe Harbor” is the term used to describe clauses added to public policies which allow folks acting in good faith, as defined clearly and proactively by the recipient, to provide security feedback without fear of legal repercussions.
disclose.io intends to help define, spread, and reward the adoption of vulnerability disclosure programs with best practices like Safe Harbor.