I don't think he should have asked for the $3,500. He was the one who designed the system, why should the government have to pay him for him to comply with a lawful order, which he supposedly didn't oppose (metadata for one specific user), simply because he made it difficult to do in that system (requiring custom coding)?
This is, IIRC, the exact point that the judge made - just because you made something difficult/impossible in the system, doesn't mean you get to ignore a lawful request / court order. It's not the government's fault that he designed the system to make it hard to do something, requiring extra coding.
Because that's how these things work. Why should anyone have to work for the Feds for free? Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc etc all get paid for costs incurred to aide law enforcement. It's actually a tidy little business.
Also, $3,500 isn't worth discussing. The hearing to deny the motion cost more than the money involved. The Feds simply wanted access to more data than they were wanting to officially claim.
But then the question is why should you work for the Feds. At what point can they force you to implement something no matter what. Your not their employee, and you should have the right the refuse what you feel is unethical. There is nothing wrong with that. I took an entire class on the Engineering Ethics and now that $800 course which I loved is a waste of money for anyone that is forced to do work against their will.
All the telecom companies, which cooperate fully with law enforcement, charge for their services. It's perfectly fair to bill time and materials that you can no longer use to improve your business and generate revenue.
This is, IIRC, the exact point that the judge made - just because you made something difficult/impossible in the system, doesn't mean you get to ignore a lawful request / court order. It's not the government's fault that he designed the system to make it hard to do something, requiring extra coding.