Re: Real Issue
Yes. Certainly in the jurisdictions I've lived in, there are other laws against misuse of police databases. The problem with the original Van Buren prosecution, as is generally the case, is the politicization of the prosecutorial office in the US, which has become a stepping-stone to higher political offices, severely compromising its economics. Among other issues, of course.
Various former prosecutors have written about this at length – Ken White on PopeHat, for example, or Jesse Eisinger's The Chickenshit Club.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
