Actually, they already made it clear that making a copy via transporter is quite easy - it's been done more than once in ST TNG, though they did use that function only in rare circumstances.
More on this here - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/39mmgi/star_trek_why_doesnt_anyone_use_transporter/
The fact is, given the whole clusterfuck with transporters being able to create copies of people, in the real world someone (other than the eternally righteous federation) would massively abuse this function and start clone wars.
Then again, we need to recognize that the reason why transporters functioned like deus ex machina is because the writers were dumb as fuck. Giving the transporters such capability would have opened up a whole other can of worms - something that was never really discussed in STTNG because everyone knew the writers have fucked up. If the transporters really did have that function... it would have changed everything. Again, you are looking at clones, immortality, etc -
As for the picard/android - yeah, that too is another lazy piece of writing - akin to that magical transporter bit.
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