Easiest way to tell how IJW will respond to any rules question over White Noise, NFB & or ODD is to think which way could you possibly read the rules at a maximum stretch while squinting to disadvantage Custodiers the most. It's not the way I'd choose, but it works I guess ;) It's an area of the rules that could really use a tidy up IMHO.
I mean to be fair, it makes total sense that you can't just throw white noise zones down in front of you, move and rethrow them down etc, because otherwise that'd be pretty stupid OP. I don't necessarily think the interaction is the right way to go about it, but I think it has the desired result.
Why do you think it would be OP? You're on 1 dice for 13-15s. Which is rather inefficient. You have no protection from a HD attack nor if your opponent has layered non-MSV AROs. You're also vulnerable to Hacking even though nobody can see you. You also can't be anywhere near as aggressive with White Noise as you can with Smoke (place the Smoke at 8.1" it still goes down, place a White Noise template 0.1" outside a Hacking Area and you Idle instead). There's a significant amount of restrictions already built in Realistically you're better off putting a midfield Repeater down, White Noising once and then advancing behind that.
Don’t you place it inside your hacking area AFTER you succeed a roll? That’s how I read the description of the program, you place it fully within your hacking after a successful roll, so you don’t “aim” like a normal smoke template. And it’s not even a template weapon, technically speaking. I could be wrong though since the last time I used the program was literally before HSN3.
From the Red Box in Order Expenditure Sequence: "All details and choices related to the execution of a Short Skill, Short Movement Skill, or Entire Order Skill must be specified when it is declared."
Since it's not a FtF roll it's not a huge deal and I won't stop the game to call a judge if someone does it by not placing the template until after the rolls. But I agree that you really should place the template immediately to indicate your intended location, and then roll.
