and I'm sure the PI courses will encourage them to go out of their way and look for anything "suspcious" or potentially illegal and report to the police.

thedarkhorse

@Paradise: I don't know though, as evil as it sounds, was he suppose to watch two a-holes take off with the hard earned possessions and/or heirlooms (probably not even insured) of his neighbors (prob good friends) to never be seen from again? I mean, there is a simple way to avoid being shot at, like not breaking in and robbing people of their possessions. I'm not saying i totally agree with shooting them, but at the same time I don't know how i'd feel watching somebody rip off my neighbors of their hard work.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

the nice part though is that it means that in all likelyhood, anyone who is working computers REALLY knows computers if they bothered to go through the whole special investigators license...

unless of course the computer people become who already had and or were already planning on getting a private investigators license. But what are the odds of someone who spends their life doing semi seedy work, scamming me and telling me that they knew exactly what was wrong with my computer based off of what i had told them, when in reality they didnt even know what a computer was?

i think business controls everything, and even if this does pass there will be some way around it eventually.

jrghoull

And i'm sure in their PI courses they will be encouraged to go out of their way and look for suspicious activities and report them

thedarkhorse

@singlecoilpickup: mustache ride.

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

Do you want this man looking at your computer?





Yeah, didn't think so...

singlecoilpickup

@OMG! Ponies!: oh geez, i thought i had erased all memory of that guy.

tucker

Guys, fix the title!

nolascoal

I have the feeling a certain blond (allegedly) dope-smoking Round Rock Retard came up with this cockamamie law.

Dude, your getting a license.

OMG! Ponies!

seriously tho. computer repair guys probably should be bonded in some way but most have already had to go to school for computer repair tech they shouldn't have to go again for pi.

Titus_Andronicus

of course on the other hand it's one more good reason for a texan to carry agun, not that they need any more reasons (or any more guns for that matter(this from a card carrying nra member) can you imagine your geeksquad guy packing heat?
lmao

Titus_Andronicus

@odnet: he is referring to the fact that Texas was once an independent sovereign nation.

tucker

Texas: Making Missoura look good since 1845!

Paradise

You are dealing with personal data on most computers now. However this is going WAY over the line, I could see having a background check of some type. But a PI lic, thats just silly.

Seiko

Yeah, Texas is effin stupid!

oh, wait..

tucker

@Jackson: ha every state is technically its own country. The Federal government will just take a higher power if something at the state level is not to their liking. Take California Medical Marijuana for example, CA loves it Feds hate it.

odnet

after failing to indict a man who shot two unarmed robbers (who weren't robbing him) in the back, who he confronted on his neighbor's property, i'm not surprised by anything that retarded state does.

do you think mexico will do givesy-backsies?

Paradise

So all I'm getting from this is that Texas is fucking stupid.

CarbonatedWater

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: Only in the back while they're hunched over your rig.

DustyButt

So, umm, are you allowed to shoot them if they don't have a private investigator license to enter your computer?

shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog

I fail to see the issue. What computer geek wouldn't be hype about this? Is there some kind of certification test, or just a fee? "I'm a , MCSE, CCIE, Net+, Sec+, certified P.I., and I said 'FREEZE' Bitch!!"

MagnoliaBoy

Stupid precedent, but not planning to live there ever, so who cares.

Mr.DuckSauce

so by transitive theory, is hitting CTL+ALT+DEL a misdemeanor?

discounteggroll

We can do that because we are also our own country.

Jackson

@random_texan: So you need to be licensed to snoop at peoples' pics? sorta takes the fun out of it.

"you pervert..."
"nope, not a pervert... I'm a P.I. I got a license!"

groverdog

"Can I say the plants in Texas are dumb? Can I say the LAWS in Texas are dumb?"

I hate that damn state. Everything about it makes me retch, especially the revolting cattle farms which blanket a three mile radius with their overwhelming stench. I'm not particularly fond of their Yosemite Sam brand of justice, either, and news like this makes it pretty obvious why.

ManekiNeko

The actual author of the bill actually weighed in on the matter:

"Driver said a technician who is doing nothing more than retrieving data from a crashed hard drive would not be affected by the law. He said it would only apply to people who dig deeply into the data and analyze it to get "deep into people's personal lives."

[blogs.chron.com]

Freaked me out when I first heard this a couple days ago as it would have put me out of business.

random_texan

I know of a case of bad child pornography, pedophile ring that was broken when one of the characters involved was dumb enough to bring to the repair shop a machine to be "cleaned". Yes 128 encryption was used... But the key was in plain view. Privacy?

Difficult, not different than saying that because guns are used by bad people they should be illegal... Then only the bad guys would have guns.

This is an aberration of the system. People meaning well and getting a terrible result. A tech is a tech and should be a tech. Not a cop. Period.

altus

The interpretation of the Texas law appears to be substantially misstated or exaggerated in the web coverage of this.

Analysis:

[www.popehat.com]

Ex-Fed

@Titus_Andronicus: Speaking of guns in the southern states, over here in ga the idiot called the governor signed a bill into law saying that people could carry concealed weapons into alcohol-serving restaurants and state parks. Who cares about the parks but they now can also be carried into mass transit services. Ha texas's gun laws can't be that bad can they?

zackthebuddha

There goes my career as a computer technician. But that gives me a second reason to move the San Fransisco....

...The first is preference, not sexuality, TYVM.

michaelwiggins

@singlecoilpickup: Warning mustache may be replaced by a neckbeard at the digression of management.

DustyButt

@thedarkhorse:

if by "suspicious activities" you mean porn, and by "report them" you mean copy the files over to their own personal hard drive, then i can assure you sir that these tactics are already well underway.

jrghoull

@zackthebuddha: wow really? i guess i could see it (being from boston whre subway travel is done at one's own risk) guns on mass transit services and staeparks depending on location could be ok as well we have one or two up here that encourage it. but alcohol serving restaurants. jesus i thought Our governor was an idiot.

Titus_Andronicus

@Mr.DuckSauce: Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy have determined that that sort of regulation is unconstitutional.

OMG! Ponies!

Do I have to live in the trailer?

+ Watch video

strider_mt2k

@zackthebuddha: Alcohol and Guns? What the hell is wrong with people?, in holland they have a 3:1 ratio of guns compared to America, but their law states that their gun and ammo have to be put in different room's or their permit or gun license is taken away completely and the only time gun violence happens is drunk, more attack's are knives or fist's because their law's are very well put in place.

Mr.DuckSauce

The law says anyone who retrieves data from a computer, analyzes it and makes a report to a third party must obtain a private investigator's license.

Institute for Justice attorney Matt Miller said the law does not apply to hardware repair. But he said he believes it would apply to anyone who is hired by a parent who wants to know what Web sites their child is visiting or to a technician hired by a company to explore employee use of computers at work.

Driver said a technician who is doing nothing more than retrieving data from a crashed hard drive would not be affected by the law. He said it would only apply to people who dig deeply into the data and analyze it to get "deep into people's personal lives."

aliefj96

@Mr.DuckSauce: No. People cling to guns because they're bitter. Sen. Obama taught us that. He learned that in the madrasa school he attended. He's a Muslim and his "preacher", Rev. Wright is a secret Muslim who preaches hate because he is unpatriotic and hates Christmas.

The Second Amendment has nothing to do with the militia. Also, nothing in the Constitution prohibits the establishment of Evangelical Christianity as the official religion of America. Also, the Vice President is not part of the Executive Branch or the Legislative so he is accountable to no one and possesses unlimited executive power.

OMG! Ponies!

@Mr.DuckSauce: Are you really comparing a nation the size of Holland to the U.S.?

And I guess you're going to march to the Supreme Court and explain to the Justices, with all of your legal wisdom, that they don't understand the context of the constitution?

And another thing... If you outlawed guns today do you really think it would stop a criminal from obtaining a gun? Violent crime is a social/education issue, not a weapons control issue. Treat the disease... not the symptom.

/soapbox

DustyButt

@OMG! Ponies!: 2nd Amendment is for time of militia. That doesn't seem to be happening now so interpretation of said right's is unneeded, with holland having a safer way with crime in the gun department, should heed to learn from others, you can cling to your gun's if you think your safer but with the lax of gun control law's with private purchase's and sales without paper trail, it's hard to see that "right" worth withholding.

Mr.DuckSauce

@ ManekiNeko have you ever spent any time in Texas? The people here are great, help you out when you need it. Neighbors will shoot people who steal your stuff. The state will get rid of people who have been proven to kill others. House tens of thousands of Katrina evacuees. Heck, you can still go see the original Texas Embassy in London built in the mid 1800's when Texas was really it's own country. The scenery is amazing. It takes over 12 hours to drive from one tip to another (El Paso to Houston) ...This is the best place in the world, sorry you don't get it.

Bachblast

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: No, but you are allowed to shoot them if they don't fix your PC...

Jrsy

It's BS. It's all about the forensics. It came about by a disgruntled tech informing the RIAA on their customers music downloading habits. The evidence was thrown out of court and the RIAA lost because the technician wasn't a licensed forensics expert. This law is a reaction to the result. You simply cannot dole out advice regarding forensics (ie, charging someone to discover who compromised a hacked machine, etc, without a license).
No worries.

ShadowBottle

@Bachblast: Why, yes I have! Every time I find myself in that state, I always want to get out, but it never ends! It's like you're trapped on an eight hundred mile long conveyor belt! The cities aren't so bad (I went to Dallas-Fort Worth to attend a friend's wedding shortly after he moved to that state), but the rural areas are just nasty. Driving through cattle farm towns is guaranteed to turn you green... it's hard to believe that there are people who willingly live there!

Plus, I loathe the system of law in Texas. It's bloodthirsty, theocratic (sex toy ban? Are you kidding me?!), and even illogical. The state takes great pride in the number of criminals it kills every year, and your own governor (now our president, regrettably) laughed when a mentally handicapped woman was executed. I'm sorry, but anyone who's that eager to pull the switch just scares the hell out of me.

Then again, I'm from the deep North, so I have a much different perspective than you do. Michigan is a great big mess right now (high unemployment, factories closing everywhere, idiot governor), yet somehow I couldn't imagine leaving it for Texas.

ManekiNeko

@ShadowBottle: Wow, as if there wasn't enough reason not to pay a service to fix your computer.

Mr. B

Ummm. WTF? I live in Dallas, work on computers at my job, and have never even heard of this...

DarkHavoc99

It's a Texas thing, none of you understand. I hate to burst most of your bubbles, but the Wild West thing is not what you are envisioning it to be.

Mayor McRib

Uhhh did anyone follow the links to end. If you did you would find out the source of the "fear" is being generated by "The Institute for Justice" who in celebration of the opening of their new Austin Texas office chose a law that said someone searches your computer to provide information to a 3rd party, that person needs to have a PI's license. The state hasn't been sending the gestapo to shut down computer repair shops. The Institute of Justice, created fear of a well intentioned law...and filed suit about it to give themselves some press.

@ManekiNeko: I couldn't imagine leaving Texas for Michigan, but I confess there are rural parts of West Texas I could do without. Pretty much every state has its issues. But then...when was the last time the country's best and brightest held public offices? As for GW? The man was born in Connecticut......thats all I'm gonna say.

Rand

@Mr.DuckSauce:

So there is still gun violence despite the laws? That doesn't make any sense. Why aren't the laws stopping people from committing violence?

ryanisjimdandy

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: Yes, but shoot at the leg, or the arm, or fire warning shots or something rather than shooting their backs as they run away (after threatening/promising to kill the people in the 911 call). The first rule of owning a gun is to only shoot at what you are ready to kill...killing isn't an appropriate punishment for petty theft, and even if it was, the punishment of death shouldn't be carried out by a vigilante.

With the current state of affairs in Texas, maybe it would help to have some techs with a PI license to cleanup the mistakes the normal PIs make.

geowrian

Stupid hick state.

markarian

@ManekiNeko: You talking about that mass of cow farms up in the panhandle? I remember driving through something like that once on a trip out to Colorado. Completely nast. Yeah... panhandle and a good amount of West Texas and far deep East Texas are... well... parts of the state that those of us born and raised in the tad bit more advanced areas (Austin, DFW, Houston) even try and avoid. Make it down to Austin sometime. Then let me know if you think *everything* in the state is still absolute ass.

NightElfMohawk

I love the hell out of my state, but me and everyone else I spoke with that actually work on computers don't understand the need for it either. Needless to say, the law won't stay on the books in its current iteration for very long.

NightElfMohawk

@zackthebuddha:
I'm pretty sure the gun laws in Texas requires you to always have a concealed weapon on you. If you're found to not have one on you, it's quite possible to get the death penalty.

Darkest Daze

@Bachblast: You're probably new here. This site has many big city elitist types that will ridicule anything that you or I might find normal. You'll get used to it. This is still a great place to be, with lots of great people.

@OMG! Ponies!: God, you're a hoot. I actually agree with some of that, so I'm pretty sure you're being facetious about a lot of it. (The Constitution very definitely prohibits the establishment of Evangelical Christianity as the official religion of America. It's a gray area, but, however, I think The Flying Spaghetti Monster [All Praise His Noodley Al Dente Appendages] would pass legal muster as a National Deity.)

@Mr.DuckSauce: I hope you don't live to regret your shortsighted gun control stance. In other words, I hope you live.

@Titus_Andronicus: Why should I not be allowed to defend myself in an alcohol serving restaurant? In my state you can't get a permit to carry if you have any drug or alcohol related offences anyway. More guns in the hands of the law abiding means less crime, period.

@ManekiNeko: "I hate that damn state. Everything about it makes me retch"

Settle down, Sparky.

GadgetPlay

The stars at night, are not so bright *clap clap clap clap*

Deep in the heart of Texas...

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

@Darkest Daze: short-sighted, any? How about it is easy to make fun of Hick-ass Texas?

Really I live in Austin, and I have lived everywhere throughout the state and the rest of then country. I wouldn't trade the 100 miles around Austin for almost anything.

oo0cyst0oo

@oo0cyst0oo:
I'm sorry, but requiring computer repair techs to also become PI's isn't really helping the stigma that Texas is a state where the law is taken into your own hands. Sure, I don't know whether they'll be able to carry a gun due to the license, but it doesn't seem far fetched...which honestly, a computer tech, also being required to be a quasi-lawman, because someone might have "illegal" stuff on their PC is pretty short-sighted in its own right. All it's going to do is kill the profession for all of those except for ex-PI's, since those who are currently IT won't be able to go and just pick up that license over the weekend, like you can with an A+ cert.

Darkest Daze

Only 2 things come from texas... steers and, um P.I's???

Blakamin

Well, I've never lived in or near TX, but for all of you snobs talking crap about Texas and all of it's smelly wretched cow farms that you think need to disappear, remember those words next time you're eating a nice steak, or roast beef sandwich, or a Big Mac (although that last one is liable to be horse meat)

@geowrian: you might want to re-read your self contradicting post...
First you say that instead of killing them, he should have shot them in the leg or something. Then in the very next sentence you say that the first rule of owning a gun is to not shoot at what you don't intend to kill. So, by your own rules, why the hell would he shoot them in the leg?? Unless of course he was aiming for their femoral artery...but that would require some badass aim!

SgtMac02

A growing area of the IT industry that this law really effects is data collection and litigation technology techs. In the course of law suits, anyone sent to collect data from employees of clients or opposition apparently will need a PI license - and I wonder if those collections would be made invalid since they would be illegal if done by a tech without a PI license. This law could actually change the face of intellectual property and corporate litigation in Texas.

CColdsmoke

I took the time to read through the law, and this is a non-story.

It doesn't require computer techs to get a PI license, and it doesn't make "recreational" snooping by techs illegal either.

It says if you engage in the business of snooping to gain personal information, you need a PI license.

If you are a repair guy, your business is repair. It's not personal information gathering, so you don't need a PI license.

The only way this law affects computer techs is it prevents someone from hiring a computer tech (without a PI license,) to help them obtain someone's personal information, or other evidence.

Bender

@92BuickLeSabre: I know that "sub" is the prefix for "below", but what does "tle" mean?

OMG! Ponies!

@Curves: I don't know, I think if you had pulled your gun on those Sheriffs with guns blocking the bridges out of New Orleans it would have ended poorly.

Also, in regards to my wife....*tears*

@OMG! Ponies!: Your sarcasm is too subtle. I hope you look forward to the call from small-town papers asking you to write the next Op-Ed on Barry.

@Elvisisdead: If you think Federalism is a simple enough concept to just "look up" you may want to spend some more time learning about Federalism.

@oo0cyst0oo: The 100 Miles around Austin is not Texas any more than the Island on Lost is a part of the rest of the world.

@GadgetPlay: It also has many non-big-city elitists who ridicule everything we big city elitists find normal...but yeah, they're okay too.

And singlecoilpickup, if you can guarantee me that Magnum will be the one to show up, then I fully support this law. 100%

92BuickLeSabre

If any of you worked in this industry you'd understand why this law is so important. And it's really annoying to see site after site report it wrong.

Time after time I've been in the courtroom when a tech on the other side has the experience, training, and knowledge of someone at geek squad. Yet, for example, they are producing evidence from the terabytes of email that was produced by at&t or any other major company.

Technology in the legal industry has been and always will be about 5 years behind. EDD (Electronic Discovery) firms are poping up like wildfires and the legislature has to find a way to control who is doing this work.

This law is great. But I can see how the general public doesn't understand the complexity behind it.

no1ukn0w

I thought PIs only spied on your cheating wife. (Yes, she is so, Capt Denial.)

The smell of good honest cow manure is better than the stench industrial pollution (or the sales department).

I am not from Texas, but I want a gun cause the bad guys have guns (see post Katrina anarchy).

Curves

@odnet: No, they're not. It's called Federalism. Look it up. The power to govern is shared.

@zackthebuddha: Those laws were taken out of the Virginia playbook. Both are a good idea. As DC has demonstrated, the Constitution still means something.

Elvisisdead

a. This confirms Texas's status as the stupidest state in the Union (as if it hadn't been already).
b. This will not hold up in Court.

bobx3

@OMG! Ponies!: Perhaps ironically, from tela - "web" and texere - "to weave."

92BuickLeSabre

This is not true. This is a misinterpretation of the law.
The law reads...

H.B. Num. 2283

Sec. 1702.104. INVESTIGATIONS COMPANY. (a) A person acts
as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the
person:
(1) engages in the business of obtaining or
furnishing, or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information
related to:
(A) crime or wrongs done or threatened against a
state or the United States;

[Drop down in the Law to...]

Sec. 1702.104.
b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(1), obtaining or
furnishing information includes information obtained or furnished
through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the
content of, computer-based data not available to the public.

In my opinion, what this translates to is that as a tech you can not pursue and provide information for the purpose of providing criminal evidence, without a Private Investigators license. However, you can provide this evidence if provided a subpoena, as later stated in the same law.

In short, this is a potential loop-hole that a good attorney could use to get someone out of a conviction.

If you want to have a read of the Law for yourself, here it is...
[www.legis.state.tx.us]

di11usion

@SgtMac02: Actually, you should reread my comment. I said that you don't shoot unless you are "ready" to kill, not "intend" to kill. That distinction in my original post was deliberate. Intending to kill is much different than be ready to do so.

geowrian

@oo0cyst0oo: Exactly my position as well, re: the 100 miles around Austin. That, and the Californians really need to stop moving here, we've got enough already. They're messing up the darned housing market with their whole "oh! $500k for a house is super-cheap!" mentality. Yuppies off the East Side.

@92BuickLeSabre: The 100 miles around Austin is a part of Texas indeed, and is also the best part of Texas (with uber-Texas-pride, but in a positive way). We're doing our best to spread the mentality to the rest of the state, slowly but surely.

NightElfMohawk

@NightElfMohawk: I prefer Dallas to Austin, but that has more to do with being born and raised in Big-D than anything.

Texas is easily the best state around. Some people just don't get it.
I wish California would sink into the Pacific already.

I'm quite proud to be a 7th generation Texan.

soggy_cheerio

oh I see. its illegal to investigate why a computer is malfunctioning?

this makes perfect sense >_>

Overheal

@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: you call the police and let them handle it. there's a reason they exist. you don't walk outside and execute them.

Paradise

@oo0cyst0oo: Agreed - I have lived in Seattle and San Francisco (over ten years) and traveled to every other state in the country besides Alaska and Hawaii (plus quite a few places around the world) and I have to say, hands down, Austin is one of the most liberal, likable, and affordable cities I have visited/lived in.

Check it out:

[www.kiplinger.com]

There is a reason that Texas routinely has more showings in the annual "best places to live" lists. If those who have never lived here, let alone visited here, don't get it - not our problem. Maybe people just get huffy because Texans don't really give shit if you visit/live here or not.

One last point: If anyone has any questions about how great this place is, come spend a weekend on Lake Travis during the summer and then see if you still make the same broad generalizations.

You know, on second thought. Texas does really suck, everyone should just stay away.

archetype94306

@Elvisisdead: "As DC has demonstrated, the Constitution still means something."

But just barely. 4 out of 5 justices voted to repeal the 2nd amendment. Say what you will about Dubya, but that ruling would have gone the other way if he had lost either election.

@92BuickLeSabre: You're right. An elitist is an elitist, and we need to stick together. Kind of like the East Coast and West Coast Rappers. Word!

GadgetPlay

How can it be a felony if it's a state law?

FritzLaurel

@FritzLaurel:
Misdemeanor - Maximum jail sentance of 12 months. Once time is served, it's served. Although kept on your record (as an adult), there usually aren't long-term repercussions for a single Misdemeanor conviction.

Felony - penalty can range from 1 year to capital punishment, any conviction results in forfeiture of right to vote among other things.

Has nothing to do with the jurisdiction, be it local, state, or federal.

@Paradise:
OK, first off... I agree, that was excessive force. However... that said, most of the outrage national and otherwise over the case comes from a misunderstanding of lethal force application as covered by Texas Law. Short hand is, even prior to the Castle Doctrine, as a citizen, lethal force could be applied if the subject was inovled in 1) Threat to life of others, 2) Agg. Kidnapping, 3) Rape/Sexual Assault, 4) Property Theft of self or others. The addendum to the fourth rule is that you can only utilize deadly force to retain property of others if you believe that they would use such force to retain their own property.

That said, I'm a concealed handgun carrier (legally). I carry a compact .45 everywhere allowed by law, and only in the conditions I am legally allowed to. My reason is simple: too many nuts with guns are out there, and while I have no delusions that I'll absolutely be a hero, I'd rather have a fighting chance.

THAT said... I've got real problems with the moral implication of killing someone over replacable and often insured property. Even as a pro-capital punishment guy, I value human life, even if it is of scumbags. I think that Texas (and some other capital punishment states) are way too quick to put someone to death. I was talking about capital punishment in another post, and I don't think I got that across to people.

Texas has a reputation as being "hang 'em high and hang 'em often" but that's not something that even I, as a death penalty supporter, think is the right way to do things.

So, all that being said, I carry a .45 for the very limited possibility of trying to survive and save the lives of other civillians in the case of a Virginia Tech rampage, or a better example, that Midwest Mall massacre where the troubled teen with the AK-47 walked into a department store and started wasting people.

You're not safe in public, police or not. Average response time is around the five-minute mark where I live, and worse in Dallas proper. When half a minute is an eternity, five minutes... forget it.

But, that's off topic.

Point being, from a legal standpoint, the guy was "justified" in the shooting. Do I morally agree with it? Hell no. I'll make it known to my neighbors that I can have an anti-aircraft gun in my front yard but that doesn't mean I'm for someone dying over a PlayStation 3 or LCD TV on my account.

So, in summation... the Houston Shotgun incident: Morally Justified? Nah. Legally Justified? Yes.

Evil J

@Evil J: Ahh, I seem, thx. I also note that some states have done away with the "felony" classification. That must be why I was thinking it was a jurisdictional thing.

FritzLaurel

but we are talking about Texas here
the same state that delivered you George (W.) Bush
so i guess that says much...

well i am glad we don't need here PI license to fix other pcs cause then every IT person must be schooled to PI and who is going to pay it?
right it is the company or yourself
state can think of many laws but they must also pay so everybody benefits
but no the state is too lazy to do that

TBM-Fan

@odnet: Check your facts. When Texas entered into the U.S. we only would if we were allowed to keep certain rights of a country, for instance we can form our own military to a degree and also legally fly our flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.

And I grew up in the middle of Houston, so I'm not exactly a country kid. But people's irrational hate of the state of Texas is ridiculous. And anyone who cites George Bush as an example needs to look at past inhabitants of their own state before casting judgment. Specifically, California.

Also, I've been across the country many times and not just stopping through big cities....and if you think hicks are from Texas then you have never been through the rural midwest.

Oh and the shotgun incident in Houston, if you grew up here you might have a better understanding of the situation. The man should be punished, but he isn't a murderer.

Jackson

Help is on the way: [www.ij.org]

Boulderlaw

Yes, it will hold up in court. The law has been on the books since 1969. HB2833 was a clarification that explicitly put computer forensics in the investigation category. Texas currently has around 200k licensees under the PSB.
Granted licensing is expensive, ~$500 for the company license and then ~$75 for each owner/investigator, not to mention the $1k for insurance.

Ask youself this, will you be so against licensing when a pedophile lures a young girl via the internet, tortures, rapes, kills, mutilates her, and then is released. All because the "tech" bungled the evidence or chain of custody and the judge had to throw out everything from the computer "investigation" as being "fruit of the poisoned tree"?

The geek squad has been dealt with - they had their badges taken away and they are no longer allowed to call themselves "agents" or claim to perform investigations!

Try Michigan HNB5274 - the penalty there is 1-4 years and $25000 + $5000 first offense!
The kicker;
(viii) Computer forensics to be used as evidence before a court, board, officer, or investigating committee.
Issuance of an injunction shall not prevent criminal prosecution of a violator. In addition to issuing the injunction, the court may impose a civil violation fine not to exceed $25,000.00. A person or other legal entity who reports to the department, a local law enforcement agency, a county prosecuting attorney, or the attorney general regarding an allegation of unlicensed activity is immune from tort liability for making the report.
(3) A person violating this section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or by
a penal fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.

How do you know if it is going to be used in court until you find it?

Dr-Who

Someone should actually read the bill before assuming it has something to do with computer technicians.

This is the section you're geeking about.

(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(1), obtaining or furnishing information includes information obtained or furnished through the review and analysis of, and the investigation into the content of, computer-based data not available to the public.

Which has to do with:

. (a) A person acts as an investigations company for the purposes of this chapter if the person:
(1) engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing, or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information related to:
(A) crime or wrongs done or threatened against a state or the United States;

The law was signed in May 07.

BLACKSIX

Ok, so with all the Freedom of Information stuff going on and eDiscovery this is an attempt by Texas to make a new industry in their eyes legitimate. "Computer Forensics." Maybe licensure is a method to gain credibility in court? At any rate, only applies to people procuring private data for use in court or for pay from a person other than the person that owns the data. So everyone can relent.

rexraver

Do car mechanics need PI licenses too? Vermin exterminators? What if you're watching someone's house. "I wonder what that wailing noise in the attic is? I wish I had a PI license."

Captain_Sarcastic

It's about freaking time! Now I have a legit reason NOT to do PC repair for my Mother-In-Law. I am so happy I'm going to go call he right now, err second thought have my wife call her. No reason I need to speak with the her, lol.

Chigawaa