From its Texas Rangers to its enthusiastic take on the death penalty, the Lone Star State has long been known for its aggressive stance on law enforcement. Thanks to a strange new law, it's a sting that may soon be felt by a number of the state's computer-repair people.
A recently passed law requires that Texas computer-repair technicians have a private-investigator license, according to a story posted by a Dallas-Fort Worth CW affiliate.
In order to obtain said license, technicians must receive a criminal justice degree or participate in a three-year apprenticeship. Those shops that refuse to participate will be forced to shut down. Violators of the new law can be hit with a $4,000 dollar fine and up to a year in jail, penalties that apply to customers who seek out their services.
Some of the area's larger companies already employee technicians with PI licenses, a fact which generally doesn't apply to small computer repair shops.
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Wow, no more fixing my friend's computers....
As far as corporate users, I knew that this law was going to apply to IR and computer forensics folks but I was not aware of how far it was reaching....craziness.
I worry if that kid down at Bestbuy has a PI license? I think not...
Courtesy of SATLUG
ReplyDeletehttp://www.citronix.net/blog/citronix-tech-services-and-the-institute-for-justice-sue-texas/
-Phn1x
Thanks for the link. My friend in Houston, shot me a link this morning about the Austin company. I knew this was coming down the pipe, since our forensics folk were looking into it. But taking it to this level is sorta crazy.
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