It wasn't just this action that got him convicted. Intent also plays a role. His intent was malicious, with the intent to benefit from what a reasonable person would conclude was access to intentionally private data. Had his actions after discovering the problem been one of a responsible adult the results would have been different. The difficulty has little to do with it. Easily getting access to something you shouldn't have access to does not instilled you with special rights. This also means intent plays a critical role.

Read past the headlines and actually understand the entire story before posting.