Fixing a PC in Texas? Better have your Private Eye licence...

[Bob Hubbard]

Seems the brain trust that's currently passing for a government in the State of Texas recently passed some laws which make it a criminal offense to repair a computer without a private investigator's license. Violators can face a $4,000 fine and one year in jail, as well as a $10,000 civil penalty.

Oh, and if you take your PC in to someone who doesn't have that license?
You can face the same penalties.

Guess what I ain't doing if I move there? Sheesh.



Stories:

PC Repair In Texas Now Requires a PI License

Posted by CmdrTaco on Tuesday July 01, @07:59PM
from the lumberjack-requires-scuba-license-too dept.
JohnnyNapalm writes "In some shocking news out of Texas, PC repair will now require a PI License. Surely this stands to have a substantial impact on small repair shops around the state if upheld. Never fear, however, as the first counter-suit has already been filed."

[+] court, it, bigbrother (tagging beta)

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Texas PC Repair Now Requires PI License

06.30.08

by Brian Heater
From its Texas Rangers to its enthusiastic take on the death penalty, the Lone Star State has long been known for its aggressive stance on law enforcement. Thanks to a strange new law, it's a sting that may soon be felt by a number of the state's computer-repair people.
A recently passed law requires that Texas computer-repair technicians have a private-investigator license, according to a story posted by a Dallas-Fort Worth CW affiliate.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2324220,00.asp

New Computer Repair Law Affects Both Company Owners and Consumers

• Every repair technician in Texas must have private investigator's license
• Licenses are obtained with criminal justice degree or 3 year apprenticeship
• Violators can face up to a 4K fine and 1 year in jail

http://cw33.trb.com/news/kdaf-062608-computerspelpina,0,486476.story

This asinine law is already being challenged on the legal front.
http://www.ij.org/first_amendment/tx_computer_repair/6_26_08pr.html

Under the new law enacted in 2007, Texas has put computer repair shops on notice that they had better watch their backs any time they work on a computer. If a computer repair technician without a government-issued private investigator’s license takes any actions that the government deems to be an “investigation,” they may be subject to criminal penalties of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, as well as civil penalties of up to $10,000. The definition of “investigation” is very broad and encompasses many common computer repair tasks.


To get a private investigator’s license, owners of computer repair shops would have to close their business while they either obtained a criminal justice degree or completed a three-year apprenticeship under a licensed P.I.


But the repair shops are not the only ones at risk. The law also criminalizes consumers who knowingly use an unlicensed company to perform any repair that constitutes an investigation in the eyes of the government. Consumers are subject to the same harsh penalties as the repair shops they use: criminal penalties of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, and civil penalties of up to $10,000—just for having their computer repaired by an unlicensed technician.


The newly launched Institute for Justice Texas Chapter (IJ-TX) is challenging the new law under the Texas Constitution by filing a lawsuit in Travis County against the Private Security Board on behalf of Texas computer repair companies and their customers.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Some more one this....

As with any law, exceptions exist, and one loophole is that a large repair shop, like the Geek Squad, would only be required to have one “full” private investigator on staff, and the other techs can simply have PI licenses bought for them ($500 per head per year) without needing to have the degree or apprenticeship. This makes the law doubly confusing as the ones who will be doing the sensitive data work will not actually need to have the mandated training or experience.

http://www.citronix.net/blog/texas-...lves-out-of-obsolescence-pc-techs-under-fire/

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/062608kvuePIlaw-cb.40583a30.html

The law is so broad that it would include looking at who a child has been chatting with on the Internet or whether an employee has been using a computer to gamble while at work. It could also include a computer repair that determined that a spouse unknowingly downloaded a virus onto the computer while visiting a disreputable website.

...

The new law was passed without input from the computer repair industry. The only people who testified before the Legislature were representatives from the Private Security Board and private investigations industry lobbyists.

...

This law was not passed in response to a public epidemic of rogue computer repair shops ripping off their customers. It was passed, quietly and behind the scenes, at the behest of private investigators looking to use government to quash competition.

http://www.star-telegram.com/245/story/726462.html

 

[Empty Hands]

"It was passed, quietly and behind the scenes, at the behest of private investigators looking to use government to quash competition."

Color me unsurprised. I wonder if it was the intention of the PI's to shut down computer repair, or if that was an unforseen side effect. I also wonder how much money those lobbyists threw at the scumbag legislators.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Now, my big question is, will my GF get into trouble if I fix her PC after we move there?
I've no intent on getting a PI license.
I wonder if photogaphers need them too.....since I might be "investigating" that hot whatever it is at the other end of my lens yaknow.... LOL!

 

[Andrew Green]

wow...

I grow more and more convinced that if I ever tried to live in the States I would just end up in jail or broke from riddiculous lawsuites...

This is just riddiculous. Next I guess cell phone shops will need it as well in case they look at someones call history.

 

[Big Don]

Licenses are obtained with criminal justice degree or 3 year apprenticeship

So, no one in Texas can repair computers? Oh, maybe 3 guys, whose rates just increased tenfold...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Well, not really.
Me, I'd need that PI licence.
"Geek Squad" just needs 1 guy to have the licence, the rest can get permits.

Seems like it's geared towards giving pis more work, boosting the 'big name shops" and putting the little guys out of busininess.

I'm wondering how this would apply to a web host that offers support to their clients. I'm always in a server investigating something.

 

[Nolerama]

Energy. Education. Health Care. The Military.

Government-sanctioned privatization has now seeped into the realm of nerdery. Next thing you know, you'll have to get a concealed-carry license in order to play World of Warcraft... and then see a court-appointed shrink when you have to stop playing.


I suspect there will be a company out there that will reap loads of unnecessarily-spent money on computer repairs, and there will be the same rate of computer/internet-related crimes, anyway.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

I should be very surprised if this law remains as written for very long.

 

[Kreth]

"Geek Squad" just needs 1 guy to have the licence, the rest can get permits.

They have enough trouble finding people who know anything about computers...

 

[Andrew Green]

I should be very surprised if this law remains as written for very long.

Probably depends on how much money the lobbiests have compared to how much money the people wanting to fight it have. Seems that if you got enough money you can get the laws that you like lately.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Follow-up On Texas PI Law For PC Techs

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday July 09, @07:14PM
from the are-you-licensed-to-look dept.
boyko.at.netqos writes "Network Performance Daily has put out an in-depth series on the Texas law that requires private investigator licenses for computer repair techs, network analysts, and other IT professionals. It includes an interview with the author of the law, Texas Rep. Joe Driver, the captain of the Texas Private Security Bureau, RenEarl Bowie, and Matt Miller at the Institute for Justice, which is suing the state over the law. Finally, there's a series summary and editorial."

[+] court (tagging beta)

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[tellner]

When the guy who crafted the law admits that he didn't really understand the issues and would be willing to fix it, you know two things.

1. This really is one of those "Never ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity" moments
2. It's a really bad law.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Maybe a law should be written making it illegal for a polititian to write a law about something he's clueless on?

 

[Kacey]

Maybe a law should be written making it illegal for a polititian to write a law about something he's clueless on?

But... then... what would they do? :idunno:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Something many aren't used to doing....

Work.