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If they were employees...how can it be a criminal offense to look at Obama’s records? As long as they did not release them without authorization...there is no crime

It would be a Bill of Attainder if they were being prosecuted for solely looking at Obama’s records.

Someone who is more familiar with the law should chime in.

Of course....during a criminal trial...those records can be released in matters of discovery and argument. To prove they are actually Obama’s records....the jurors and court would have to see such records....

Bill of Attainder. . very interesting. Looked it up at Wiki and found a couple of interesting details. 1.One of the motivations for the American Revolution was anger at the injustice of attainder 2.The United States Constitution forbids bills of attainder under Article I, Section 9. 3.Within the U.S. Constitution, the clauses forbidding attainder laws serve two purposes. First, they reinforced the separation of powers, by forbidding the legislature to perform judicial functions—since the outcome of any such acts of legislature would of necessity take the form of a bill of attainder. Second, they embody the concept of due process, which was later reinforced by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The text of the Constitution, Article I, Section 9; Clause 3 is "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed". The constitution of every State also expressly forbids bills of attainder.

Previous threads on the charges:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=indicted%20charges

The nine former employees are accused of gaining access to a computer at the Vangent office in Coralville office between July 2007 and March 2009, and accessing Obama’s student loan records while he was either a candidate for president, president-elect or president.

They were indicted Wednesday on charges that they exceeded their authorized computer access. The U.S. attorney’s office said a grand jury returned the indictments in U.S. District Court in Davenport.....

The nine are scheduled to be arraigned May 24. The charge is punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_STUDENT_LOANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-12-20-07-35