A lot of us grew up and realized that while we avoided many of the consequences of our actions, some of our peers did not. Thus the caution (and concern for other uninvolved parties)

Personally, I’m of the opinion that this kind of thing should be done by those who understand the risks and accept them regardless. It’s fun and interesting, and in the real world it will almost certainly never be an issue.

There has always been ethical and unethical hacking (and shades of gray in between).

It's unethical to increase the risk profile of unaware third parties because you're a hacker.

I'd be fine installing this in my own house, but it shouldn't go in a shared space.

in fact, I've done something similar, wiring my unifi door bell to be able to unlock my matter-enabled deadbolt via an esp32 in the wall.