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Licensing Computer Techs As TV Repairmen
An anonymous reader writes "According to a story in yesterday's New Orleans paper, the Louisiana Radio and Television Technicians Board has sent letters to computer techs demanding fees to license them as radio and TV repairmen. Apparently, as computers drive more home theater applications, the board is trying to classify them as 'playback and recording device equipment,' which the law gives the board power to regulate. It looks more like a money grab, though, since no test is required, just $55 and an affidavit." It seems to me the better question is not whether computers can be defined in many circumstances as playback and recording equipment (hard to get around), but whether this kind of forced classification makes sense in the first place. Disingenuous quote of the day: "We're not trying to swing our arm around a whole bunch of people to get new revenue."
Since the radio is just a component of the car, the car as a whole could be considered a playback device. Are they sending this extortion attempt to car mechanics? No? Funny that...
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
"That is the problem with a grandfather clause," he said. "There is nothing that we can do about that."
Sure there is, don't license computer technicians!
-- johntracy.com, because everybody else is wrong.
According the the RIAA, MPAA, the NFL, and several other entertainment groups, playing broadcasted or distributed entertainment on a computer is against the law....
...So how can a local government body issue people a license to repair lawbreaking equipment?
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
"It would make one stand out amongst competition."
No it wouldn't because all the competition will also have to have paid $55. It does nothing but gouge people for $55.
Go run for office and fix it already!
Anyway, I *like* that there is a driving license. I wish it were *more* difficult.
Marriage... that one is less useful now than it might have been 100 years ago. And with common law marriages, quite useless, though lots of states don't recognize common law marriage.
Fishing and hunting I'll agree too as I don't think we should have unlicensed folk with guns shooting at things. At the least, it limits them.
Essentially licensing is a force to limit, and in certain things I think that's good.
GPL Deconstructed
I doubt that most computer repair techs have ever opened a monitor (or even a power supply). The entire thing is treated as a disposable unit. Most servicable computer components are relatively idiot-proof, only fit into the appropriate sockets, and operate at no more than 12V.
If they weren't just going for a money grab, they'd exempt all computer techs who don't open up monitors or power supplies.
During either the DeCSS suit, the DMCA hearings, or a RIAA/MPAA suit (I can't remember which), the court specifically ruled that computers were not playback and recording devices and thus did not fall into the realm of protected devices for fair use copying.
Either computers are not such devices as the court ruling indicated, and thus this money grab is illegal, or computers are such devices and thus protected by fair use copying exemptions to the chagrin of the RIAA/MPAA.
Well, let me tell you that a real computer repair shop will have a service depot with people who do work at the electronics level. I work in my companies IT department but sometimes I help the service guys when they are under the gun with a back log. I know only enough electronics to be helpful with basic stuff like testing caps and de-soldering and replacing identical parts based on a sheet of most common failuers until something works. Some of those guys are really smart though and know their stuff. Its incrdible some of the stuff I would have labeled as lost causes that they can have fixed in no-time flat. There service everything from IBM Iserise equipment doing fine detail work on tape drives all the way down to label printers, which most often you just hit with something.
The point of my comment is this though. The people doing that work for us are EEs, they have credited degrees in Electrical Engineering and many are licensed as EEs. Considering the people who are doing this kinda repair work are already well licensed and covered. It seems insulting to license them again as "repair men"/.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
For the low LOW price of 55 bucks I can pad my resume with "Radio and TV Repairman".
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
Driver's licenses do not do anything to ensure safe driving.
You're wrong. (So is this weirdo).
How does paying a couple of dollars every few years (with no testing) ensure that I drive safer?
You're incorrectly focusing on license-renewal, which is actually less important than the initial issuance, which is what really improves safety. Or do you think that I'd really be fine to allow 14-year olds to get in cars and do 65 on the highway without at least first convincing a backseat cop that he's fundamentally competent?
Louisiana is a different place than the rest of the country. First off, the state uses Napoleanic Code (which is derived from Roman Law) while the rest of the nation is using English Common Law. Every governmental position in the state is elected, NONE are appointed.
Secondly, the state has continously put political machines into office. Fmr. Gov. Edwin Edwards (3-term governor) is currently serving a prison sentence in Dallas because of a variety of charges, basically stemming from taking bribes from casinos. Then back in the day, we had Huey Long, followed by his brother Earl Long. Huey even had a box where he kept all the kickbacks from state businesses and employees.
Hell, to become a notary public in Louisiana, you've got to get approval from the Governor!
The state has some of the most corrupt, crooked, and just plain old screwed up politics in the nation. Every profession you can think of has to be licensed - and especially now, because the state is running low on cash (thank you Kathleen Blanco), taxes are extremely high.
Most businesses just stay out of Louisiana since the cost of doing business there, unless you know somebody, is extreme. Its good-ole-boy politics at its finest.