&gt; <i>does this mean anyone can write code to perform any kind of task (nefarious or otherwise) and be protected by the First Amendment?</i><p>It should. Code is speech, so banning private speech is to create a thought-crime. Unless the author of that code intends it to be used as a weapon and facilitates that use, yes, they ought to be protected. Your hypothetical also probably isn&#x27;t all that hypothetical. Pacemakers have vulns, and it isn&#x27;t illegal to create a PoC proving the vuln is real. There are probably real world examples.