There was no sign that the supposedly private documents were intended to be private. I’ve often fiddled with URLs on public sites because I’ve had the intuition

There was no sign that the supposedly private documents were intended to be private. I’ve often fiddled with URLs on public sites because I’ve had the intuition that something hasn’t been indexed that perhaps should have been indexed, or because of a dead link. If those sensitive documents were on a _public_ website intended to be browsed by the _public_, who presumably did not require authentication, and the documents did not cause an “Authorization required” response when accessed, it feels rather totalitarian to treat that as a crime. Most of the metaphors I’ve seen about this are not fitting. As excessive as the barrage of metaphors may be, allow me to add my own: As part of a free treasure hunt, a person gives you the address of their house and says, “Whatever is not locked up is fair game for you to look over, take photos, or copy.” You go there and have a great time. Then the homeowner has a fit because you discovered a hidden cellar full of pornography, which was apparently off limits but the door was inadvertently left unlocked. Now the homeowner is charging you with breaking and entering, saying you should have known better and it was common sense.