Would it be illegal to write say an excellent grepping or sorting tool that I really want someone to use as part of a criminal activity, even if it had heaps of other uses?
Hacker News is operated by a VC firm, and most articles talk about new technology and how to monetize it.
HackForums is a place to talk about cracking software, distributing unwanted malware, and other generic "skiddie" stuff. Like the article says, it's shades lighter than the "dark web", and there are probably dozens of legitimate reasons to visit that place, but the vast majority of people there are looking for means to circumvent permissions/licensing/trust on other computers or someone else's software.
Hell, Ansible is a great RAT. It logs onto my servers, installs software, reconfigures settings, restarts crashed services. It can handle a network of thousands of boxes at a time. It's just not marketed as something that can turn on the webcam of a user, hide from antivirus software, and silently let a disgruntled creep keep tabs on their ex's bedroom.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/09/computercop-dangerous-...