What happens is that these charges are used in place of "real" charges when the police want to convict.
For instance, it is in general illegal to possess "burglary tools", with no definition thereof. You might think that that would penalize only people with specialized tools modified for burglary. You would be wrong to think that. An unmodified hammer, screwdriver, wrench, knife or anything like that can be charged as a burglary tool, if the police feel you are a bad person. And yes, people routinely go to prison for possessing a regular unmodified screwdriver. Using it for burglary is not required at all under the law.
It doesn't matter even a tiny bit if the tools can also be used for good.
So when your house gets raided and the police find no actual evidence that you've done anything wrong, but you possess hacking tools, well... if they don't lay any charges that means they were dumb for making the raid in the first place.
For instance, it is in general illegal to possess "burglary tools", with no definition thereof. You might think that that would penalize only people with specialized tools modified for burglary. You would be wrong to think that. An unmodified hammer, screwdriver, wrench, knife or anything like that can be charged as a burglary tool, if the police feel you are a bad person. And yes, people routinely go to prison for possessing a regular unmodified screwdriver. Using it for burglary is not required at all under the law.
It doesn't matter even a tiny bit if the tools can also be used for good.
So when your house gets raided and the police find no actual evidence that you've done anything wrong, but you possess hacking tools, well... if they don't lay any charges that means they were dumb for making the raid in the first place.