> we had to live under the ambiguity for more than three decades

Reality is infinitely complex. The law, meanwhile, is a construct.

One can always come up with anxious apparitions of hypothetical lawbreaking. (What if I’m murdered by a novel ceramic knife. The killer might get away!)

> If the researchers use more than one IP address so they can collect the data in less than 20 years, is that illegal? It shouldn't require a judge to be able to know that

It doesn’t. It requires a lawyer.

>Reality is infinitely complex. The law, meanwhile, is a construct

We managed to make the law more complex than actual reality.