At a glance, each of these questions could easily (1 week to 6 mos) be answered by a U.S. lawyer or dedicated law student. If you have money to spend, hire someone; if not, link up with a law firm’s pro bono program or a law school’s security clinic.
Just a quick note on “Patent law—can companies patent dangerous technology in order to prevent others from developing or misusing it?” -- No. The U.S. patent tradeoff is that you make an idea public (describe it fully and accurately) in return for (max) 20 years of protection. So the patent process would publicize the dangerous tech, and then (at max, if you had good lawyers and good judges) protect the tech for 20 years—after which anyone could use the tech you had publicized. Please don’t do this.
At a glance, each of these questions could easily (1 week to 6 mos) be answered by a U.S. lawyer or dedicated law student. If you have money to spend, hire someone; if not, link up with a law firm’s pro bono program or a law school’s security clinic.
Just a quick note on “Patent law—can companies patent dangerous technology in order to prevent others from developing or misusing it?” -- No. The U.S. patent tradeoff is that you make an idea public (describe it fully and accurately) in return for (max) 20 years of protection. So the patent process would publicize the dangerous tech, and then (at max, if you had good lawyers and good judges) protect the tech for 20 years—after which anyone could use the tech you had publicized. Please don’t do this.