It's actually not uncommon for police patrols to notify people if they see unsecured property. And that can be hard to do if no one is home and they don't want to alert actual criminals. To enter the property they often need a court order (unless there's an immediate threat), but I've seen efforts by police to drop notes wherever they see unsecured doors or windows that could be targeted for a break-in. Especially if there have been break-ins targeting certain weaknesses (e.g. open windows), police will look for those and alert owners.
The problem with a hack is that it can be done within hours on properties everywhere, so just dropping a note won't be fast enough for most. Where there is an equivalent in real-world (i.e. immediate threat of a break-in), police can and will act to secure that property.
So I don't see the chilling effect, it's something that (at least in Europe) is common part of preventive policing.
Not unlike glaziers boarding up a broken window to prevent intrusion or weather damage (although that also serves as a good opportunity to advertise the services to a newly-discovered prospective customer)
>To enter the property they often need a court order
Exactly, in this case they got the equivalent of a court order to enter every house and check the locks.
Which no judge would be likely to approve if it were actual physical houses. But servers...
The weird thing is the warrant authorizing entry into pretty much any computer anywhere. Could they get a warrant to enter any computer anywhere to look for child porn? Or "terrorism" or whatever? Probably not, that's not the way warrants work, except now are they going to?
The problem with a hack is that it can be done within hours on properties everywhere, so just dropping a note won't be fast enough for most. Where there is an equivalent in real-world (i.e. immediate threat of a break-in), police can and will act to secure that property.
So I don't see the chilling effect, it's something that (at least in Europe) is common part of preventive policing.