It's not the NYT trying to do that, it's the government. (The nyt may be enabling though, yeah, welcome to US journalism).
In Pvt. Manning's trial, the governments' case was that Manning's wget use was a CFAA violation. Manning was convicted of a CFAA violation.
And yeah, at the Manning trial, the government lawyers repeatedly explicitly brought up the fact that wget was an unusual tool that doesn't have an icon on the desktop, trying to make it seem sinister.
And yeah, it is frightening.
(I sat in on several days of the trial as an observer).
In Pvt. Manning's trial, the governments' case was that Manning's wget use was a CFAA violation. Manning was convicted of a CFAA violation.
And yeah, at the Manning trial, the government lawyers repeatedly explicitly brought up the fact that wget was an unusual tool that doesn't have an icon on the desktop, trying to make it seem sinister.
And yeah, it is frightening.
(I sat in on several days of the trial as an observer).