Fix your computer and spy on your spouse, too!

[Sir_Winston54]

Okay... as a former Texan (off and on for half a dozen years or so), I've always known the Texas legislature was a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but I think this law may just prove that they're completely insane!

Story:

Texas PC Repair Now Requires PI License
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.

In order to obtain said license, technicians must receive a criminal justice degree or participate in a three-year apprenticeship. Those shops that refuse to participate will be forced to shut down. Violators of the new law can be hit with a $4,000 dollar fine and up to a year in jail, penalties that apply to customers who seek out their services.

Some of the area's larger companies already employee technicians with PI licenses, a fact which generally doesn't apply to small computer repair shops.​

 

[twysted73]

makes sense actually.

Let me tell you why.

Man goes into a repair shop. Drops off his laptop for a motor repair.
Tach discovers child porn or other related material made illeagle by law.
Thanks to his PI training he knows what items are acceptable and which aren't. He knows who he must contact to report it. He is bound by state law to do so.

(All that'll do is create an underground need for techs.)

Who ever thought being geaky was so adventurous. Drugs, livers, and pc techs all on the black market.
*laughs at Texas, the "other" backward state*

I honestly think Texas and California are trying for some record between them.

 

[Yasashii_Kaze]

I am a licensed computer technician, and while I can see the merit of this law, it is impractical and hurtful to any computer business that isn't a huge chain. Here's why.

The entry-level exam for general computer repair that is most widely respected is CompTIA's A+. Anyone with a brain, 3-6 months of learning (Or less, even. I've known particularly gifted individuals who have passed the exam with a weekend of hard study.), and a couple hundred dollars for the exam fee can complete this test. This is what the 15-year-old neighbor's kid down the street that fixes your wireless is studying in high school. That's right. You must now have a college degree or serve in a 3-year apprenticeship to work in a job that the class nerd does as a hobby.

While I can see having a private detective on staff in large computer repair chains (think Best Buy's Geek Squad, CompUSA, or Circuit City), this will put nearly every small shop out of business, not to mention dash the hopes and dreams of your neighborhood geek. A much better idea would be to create a certification that covers legality issues from an IT's perspective.

 

[twysted73]

Oh, I never said I agreed with the practice. Only that I could see what reasons they'd offer as to WHY it should be accepted.

Like our current country-wide lack of privacy and rights. We lose them, bit by bit, for "the better good of all".

And before you know it.....we don't have any.

A very good case of "one bad apple spoils the bunch".

 

[catalina_francisco]

Sounds like more bureaucratic BS to me. Given the job F does, and their reasoning, he would be in a position to require it even more and yet to my knowledge they do not require workers in his field to be PI's in the US. Sometimes I think they just sit around twiddling their thumbs and then get a fright and think they need to come up with something to prove they are doing useful, important stuff.

Catalina

 

[Homburg]

I don't know whether to laugh, or shake my head.

 

[Breaker_Morant]

Now even I think this is too much like Big Brother - besides, most pervs are too smart to keep their stuff on the computer's hard drive. External hard drives are too cheap not use those or flash drives or burn DVDs.

 

[snowbyte]

This law only applies to techs that are acting in an investigatory capacity.

If someone from the GeekSquad finds something illegal while trying to de-infest somebody's computer, they can report it to the police but the "chain of evidence" is broken because the geek isn't licensed. No case can be made. If a licensed tech finds the same stuff as a part of an investigation, everything is fine and whatever is found can be used as evidence.

I imagine this is more important and relevant in divorce cases that it would be in criminal cases.

The tech-and-parts store down at the local strip mall is not effected by the legisation as near as I can tell.