Right, so, Malta. Never been, but I imagine it's lovely. Picturesque, perhaps a bit like someone spilled a tin of Mediterranean blue paint across a postcard.

And seemingly, a place where you can get into a spot of bother for being a bit *too* helpful.

I'm referring, of course, to the saga of the FreeHour app, a name that already implies a certain leisurely approach to life.

Seems a few bright sparks – three students and a lecturer, to be precise – decided to have a poke around under the app's digital bonnet. What they found, bless their cotton socks, were vulnerabilities.

Who knew ethical hacking could land you in more trouble than actually, you know, *hacking*?

The Digital Do-Gooders

Now, any sensible person would have shrugged, muttered something about technology being the devil's plaything, and gone to find a decent pastizzi. But no. These chaps, fueled by youthful zeal and perhaps a touch of academic curiosity, decided to be *helpful*.

They emailed the founder, Zach Ciappara (who sounds like a character from a charming Italian movie) and, in essence, said, "Ehi, Zach! We found a boo-boo. Fix it! Maybe give us a little something for our trouble?"

Smooth move, guys. Smooth move.

The Plot Thickens

Instead of showering them with gratitude and perhaps a lifetime supply of pastizzi, Zach, being a responsible app-founding type, called the rozzers. Cue arrests, strip searches, and the confiscation of all manner of techy paraphernalia. I imagine their mums were *thrilled*.

The lecturer, Mark Joseph Vella, even got dragged into this digital donnybrook simply for proofreading an email. Proofreading! Talk about a thankless task.

A Pardon? Good Grief!

But here's where things get truly Maltese. The Cabinet, in a move that suggests a collective national shrug and a deep understanding of irony, has recommended a presidential pardon!

A *pardon*! Apparently, Malta didn't quite have a legal framework for "ethical hacking" back then, which seems a bit like having a law against stealing bread but not against using it to feed the ducks.

So, there you have it. A story of good intentions, techie enthusiasm, and a government that clearly appreciates the absurdity of it all. Whether the President will sign off and release these chaps from their legal purgatory remains to be seen. One hopes so.

After all, who among us hasn't stumbled upon a digital vulnerability and then, purely out of altruism, considered asking for a small reward?

No one, that's who.