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Follow-up On Texas PI Law For PC Techs

Posted by samzenpus on 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."

3 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Tax Dollars At Work by thrashee · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We can't afford universal health care because imagine the tax dollars that would be spent; but we can pay for this kind of arbitration? And how exactly is having a PI license going to better the situation at hand, which is obviously that tech people can unethically snoop through customers' files? Does having a license magically make this ok? Does it somehow imply an agreement by the customer that their files are open for review, while without a license, this agreement does not exist?

    1. Re:Tax Dollars At Work by elemnt14 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      So say for instance that a person who acquires this PI license, while working on a computer that has been given to him to fix because it crashed or similar, finds "illegal" material. Does this new license grant him the ability to report the material, even though that was not his first intent? Does it fall under "unreasonable search and seizure" without a warrant?

  2. Re:What is an investigation by DeanFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    However, the law is written such that if "investigation" were to take on the vernacular, then nearly all activities computer-related could be considered investigations. In fact, it could be taken to be as absurd as viewing the "private" page of someone on Myspace would be an investigation and thus a criminal offense.

    Therein lies the rub. If it only takes the re-interpretation of a single word to turn this the law into a clusterfusk then it's a bad law IMHO. And, it will happen. Some high profile case involving protecting a child will re-interpret the original meaning of this law and the worst will happen.

    Today the law is relatively harmless. How about 10 years from now? Was the DMCA ever meant to be used the way it is now? Who ever intended drug forfeiture laws to be used to confiscate a persons inheritance because they're traveling home from the funeral with it in cash?

    Most laws are probably well intended. However, it only takes one zealous prosecutor to "interpret" the law to his advantage when he wants to make an example of someone. How about facing a felony computer trespassing / hacking charges because you broke the TOS of a website like MySpace by using a fake name as in the Meier's suicide case?

    It's become that a person can't wake, go about their day and retire for the evening without comiting at least one felony throughout the day. And that's scares me.

    -[d]-