I am of the opinion that using the banks in the way that they are currently being used, that is merely to overcome an obstacle is dangerous because it does not engender pride in your profession. Databases are needed, certainly, as a reinforcement to basic learning, because you need to open up the neural pathways to various scenarios, but you shouldn't have to learn them to pass the exams, because you won't do it on just knowledge - we've had enough CFIIs through here who should be able to but don't to prove it.
I've lost count of the number of short sharp and to the point questions I've written, only to have them returned with three paragraphs in the stem, so it appears that they want garbage. If the UK writers hadn't been dumped due to BREXIT I wouldn't have continued writing them this year.
You're quite right to point out the potential legal can of worms. If it wasn't for the fact that many airlines add their own gloss on top to cover the inadequacies, I don't know where we would be.