Freya Rachael Sommerville Newman, 21, used her position as a part-time librarian at the Whitehouse Institute of Design to access information about the $60,000 director's scholarship awarded to Frances Abbott in 2011.

Ms Newman pleaded guilty earlier this year to accessing restricted data. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years' jail.

On Tuesday at Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan imposed a two-year good behaviour bond on Ms Newman but elected not to record the conviction, meaning that Ms Newman will not have a permanent criminal record for the offence.

"I accept that Ms Newman was motivated by a sense of injustice rather than a desire for personal notoriety, greed or any desire to embarrass the student," Ms O'Sullivan said.

"Whilst this may explain what lead up to her offending behaviour, it does not excuse her conduct," she said.

Magistrate O'Sullivan found that Ms Newman was a person of good character who was involved in a number of charitable pursuits, and that she had suffered as a result of the very wide publicity given to the case, including having a negative impact on her mental health.

Ms Newman had expressed contrition and remorse for her actions, and had refused to take part in any of the protests that followed the laying of charges against her.

The court also heard that Ms Newman was told by more senior staff  where the evidence of the private scholarship could be located in the Whitehouse computer system and how to obtain it.

"Those staff members encouraged Ms Newman to use another staff member's log in details, without her permission, to access information confirming that [Francis Abbott] had been awarded a private scholarship," Ms O'Sullivan said.

She then took screen shots of the information in the system and emailed two other institute employees, saying: " ... there's a bit about Frances meeting with Leanne J, the CEO of Whitehouse Institute on February 21, 2011 and then receiving a Managing Director's Scholarship three days later".

Soon after, she sent another email saying: "Got 'em - might go meet Chris now to talk tactics, see you tomorrow."

The police say this was a reference to Chris Graham, the editor and publisher of the New Matilda website, which published an article about Ms Abbott's scholarship the following day.

Magistrate O'Sullivan said that, while accessing private information was a significant concern in the community, Ms Newman's crime was less serious than many other instances.

She did not accept the prosecution argument that Ms Newman needed to be convicted so that others would be deterred from committing similar crimes.

Ms Newman smiled with relief when the decision was handed down.

Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne weighed in following the sentence, declaring on Twitter that "I'm not convinced the sentence in the Freya Newman case sends a clear message that breaching another's privacy is wrong".

When asked about the appropriateness of this comment, a spokesman for the minister said "the Minister's comment is self-explanatory and represents his personal view that he is entirely within his rights to express".