[Thorentis]

> “I used a fake Google Voice number and fake Gmail address,” said the source, who asked to remain anonymous for this story but who said he did it mainly as a thought experiment.

I don't think "thought experiment" applies to actually carrying out what you were thinking about.

[yoaviram]

Came here to say the same thing. I'm surprised how often people misuse the term. Here's my attempt at explaining what are thought experiments: https://thoughtexperiments.net/pages/on-thought-experiments/

[Eiriksmal]

>Technically, what my source did was wire fraud (obtaining something of value via the Internet/telephone/fax through false pretenses); had he done it through the U.S. mail, he could be facing mail fraud charges if caught. Yeah, I'm pretty confident that a true thought experiment can't lead to wire fraud charges. "Security research" seems like a more popular, and reasonable, umbrella to hide behind.