I don't think it is that big a stretch. There's more details in the Verge article[1]: > They turned the case over to Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Tho

I don't think it is that big a stretch. There's more details in the Verge article[1]: > They turned the case over to Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson on Monday, December 27. Governor Parson then held a press conference on Wednesday, December 29, where he cited a state statute related to computer tampering and repeatedly suggested Thompson should use it to prosecute Renaud and the paper. As of the time of writing this comment, that was four days ago, and during the holidays. It certainly seems like charges will be brought unless Thompson chooses to side against the Governor and decline to pursue charges (I'm not sure what the political implications of that would be in either direction.) State statute is here [2]. IANAL, but this statute seems very broad. Especially sections 3, 4, and 5: >A person commits the offense of tampering with computer data if he or she knowingly and without authorization or without reasonable grounds to believe that he has such authorization: [...] (3) Discloses or takes data, programs, or supporting documentation, residing or existing internal or external to a computer, computer system, or computer network; or (4) Discloses or takes a password, identifying code, personal identification number, or other confidential information about a computer system or network that is intended to or does control access to the computer system or network; (5) Accesses a computer, a computer system, or a computer network, and intentionally examines information about another person; Like, yeah, factually the reporter did examine information about another person without authorization. This law sucks, but it is not a stretch to think they will prosecute the reporter. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/31/22861188/missouri-governor-mike-parson-hack-website-source-code https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/31/22861188/missouri-govern... [2] https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=569.095 https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=569.095