PC 502(c)(2)’s proscription on the use of data without permission does not apply to purely public data, even when the data is stored in a confidential database. Working as a sheriff’s department attorney, the defendant obtained court decisions in deputy discipline cases from internal database and later, while working for the prosecutor’s office in same county, emailed the decisions to a colleague. The statutory purpose of the section is to combat electronic hacking. To interpret PC 502(c)(2) to prohibit sharing of “purely public court records” would lead to arbitrary and unreasonable results. The Court also ordered unsealed the exhibits containing only publicly available information. (CRC 2.550(c)-(e))

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: https://www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B341644.PDF