[Shacs] Texas legislation - PC Techs need PI certification?

[Kevin A. Estis]

OK, so I'm finally catching up on all my email and news feeds and came
across this blurb in the SANS newsletter:

 --Texas Law Requires Computer Technicians to Have PI Licenses
(June 26, 208)
The Institute for Justice has filed a lawsuit against the Texas Private
Security Board because of a 2007 law that requires computer repair
technicians to obtain government-issued private investigators' (PI)
licenses.  Technicians could face both civil and criminal penalties if
they take "any action that the government deems to be an
'investigation.'"  The definition of investigation is broad and includes
many commonly performed repairs.  To obtain a license, computer repair
shop owners would have to obtain a criminal justice degree or complete
a three-year apprenticeship with a licensed PI. Consumers who knowingly
use an unlicensed operation to conduct an "investigation" would also be
subject to penalties.
http://www.ij.org/first_amendment/tx_computer_repair/6_26_08pr.html

[Editor's Note (Guest Editor, Rob Lee): Part of this suit began when
Best Buy's Geek Squad was served a cease and desist letter for stating
to customers that they can perform "computer forensics" to aid clients
in discovering how they were compromised. Does this PI license
requirement make sense to anyone?]
(Northcutt): The State of Texas is putting the Geek Squad tag line to
test, "There's nothing we haven't seen. Go ahead. Use us." This
legislation goes beyond dumb. The Geek Squad's "forensics" would be to
help the end users understand the errors they made that caused their
systems to become compromised. One would think this is something
government would want to support. I would be surprised if Best Buy
doesn't hand Texas its hat.
(Schultz): Hopefully, reason will prevail, and this nonsensical law will
be repealed. Requiring a PI license to perform a computer repair just
does not make sense.]



--
This signature was created on a Mac...therefore it should look better than
other signatures but will cost you more and doesn't really work in the
enterprise.
Kevin Estis
macinhack at shsu.edu