[dragonwriter]

> > The federal laws regarding US Census privacy-breaching disclosures are stiff

> So are those for torture, domestic spying, and many other things.

Not so much torture. The only US federal law on torture per se applies only outside of the United States, and expressly excludes civil liability (and, therefore, private action), and uses a limited definition of "severe mental pain and suffering" to limit the scope of prohibited torture (identical to those in the US reservations to the Convention Against Torture itself.)