>>Can you show me in the statute that you cite where that dirt would be included as something prohibited?
>>They go into some exhaustive detail about what is prohibited and I can't find anything that would cover this.
It seems you largely agree with this fellow... published in WAPO so it must be true: ;-)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/07/12/can-it-be-a-crime-to-do-opposition-research-by-asking-foreigners-for-information/?utm_term=.9ba15143b905
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1