common law for the internet is mostly found in fair use. when combined with the concept of dos (denial of service) perpetrated against those who should have fair use access - it causes an interesting case for rapid declassification ahead of inevitable mined material. government sanctions ai mining bots will declassify information without permission - it's only a matter of time. in the case of wikileaks: the information was already leaked prior to the release of the full documentation leak. hence, in a fair use case, it could be argued if the information hit the internet, it was common law before it was leaked. hackers access information which is already common law privilege under the original use cases of the internet. if confidential or classified information is on the web: it falls under common law. any hacker with the transaction history of their footprint could prove this easily, and if someone engaged with them (like hired them for a job from a hackathon or security bug patch etc) in reality based on what they found, it's an acknowledgement the information was fairly acquired. prosecution and latches would have limits for prosecution in a real court of law for a hack. and if white hat common service could be evidenced - being held for a hack or leak is against narrowed case law. shift what you're proving.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/doj-white-hat-hackers-prosecution/