They were already at risk.

Making an exploit widely known increases the risk dramatically.

No... I immediately set a root password, if this had not been posted I would be far more at risk.

Maybe you personally are at less risk, but the population as a whole is at greater risk.

I'm now seeing cases of non technical people trying this because they heard about it and it's easy. To them, it just unlocks some system preferences thing. Guess what those people are not doing after they try it? 'passwd root' to change the password because in many cases they don't even know what the terminal is.

In this particular case, the ease of validation additionally works against users.

I do get the impression that you do blame the individual, as you have attributed unsavory motivations to his behavior. Why do you care to make such a loose statement about this person having a petty motive of malice?

One of the grandparent posts specifically said they supported the tweet because it would hurt Apple, and I think bradrydzewski is responding to those comments.

I dont understand the implied correlation between, what you call, irresponsible disclosure and "wanting to hurt apple". Where did you get this impression from?

edit: Typo.

> Let's hope Apple gets sued ...

Thanks, you are right. If he refers this post (which i believe he does), he is indeed right.

Anyhow, personally i wouldn't exclude something like this, e.g. suing, as a last resort. Anything that changes apples attitude towards security or at the very least, enhancing the value of security as a product qualifier.