How is that even related? Is your point that some offenses are prosecuted and others not? That's prosecutorial discretion - the hundreds of thousands of nmap scans that one might construe as 'precursors to a cyberattack' if one were to take literally some interpretations of some laws aren't prosecuted either, because they wouldn't stand a chance in court. I honestly don't see what your point is, giving one example of millions of actions and responses from law enforcement, or lack thereof.
The material Barrett Brown linked to was millions of lines long. Only a handful had credit card numbers.
Its not like he was out there trying to sell credit card numbers. He was trying do disseminate information for the public good and some illegal information was swept up. Prosecutoral discretion, indeed.
The guy was steamrolled. They found a scapegoat for a problem they were embarassed they couldn't do much about (Anonymous). Luckily he was engaged in questionable personal activities like drug use so they knew they had an easy road to discredit his work and drag him through the mud. Then they found a reason to provoke and prosecute and did it.
