New law says computer repair guys in Texas must also be licensed private investigators!!!

Davey Winder
Wednesday, 02 July 2008 16:47

IT Policy - Regulation

The Institute for Justice seems to think so. It argues that "private investigators did what many declining cartels do: they asked the legislature to move more activities onto the list of services that only licensed individuals may provide." Backing up the claim by pointing out only the Private Security Board and investigation industry lobbyists testified before the Texas Legislature.

Private investigators, on the other hand, seem quite happy with the way things are heading. Private Investigator News and Information says that "As Texas moves forward with the formalized licensing of computer forensic examiners and security consultants, Texas consumers will experience greater protection from unscrupulous individuals who may have ulterior motives for gaining access to computer based confidential and private information."

Taken at face value it would be hard to argue with that. However, simply holding a private investigators license does not turn Sam Spade into Bill Gates. There is no requirement that a private investigator be trained in computer forensics, nor even has a basic grounding in computer examination, in order to obtain that license.

As always, the real test for such a law will come when the first person is charged with breaking it. Assuming, that is, it gets past the Institute for Justice hurdle. Meanwhile, if you are repairing computers in Texas, be careful out there...