Thread: Bad news for Texas IT people

According to a new law, if you work in IT, you might have to be a licensed Private Investigator.

http://cw33.trb.com/news/kdaf-062608...0,486476.story

How does that make sense?

According to the law passed in the 2007 Texas legislative session, the private investigator's license is required for repair technicians to analyze their customers' computer data. This analysis is common for business managers who wish to track their employees' computer usage or families who want to find out where their children or spouses have been online, said Matt Miller, executive director of the institute.

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.co...-3386027.shtml

Unfortunately for me... I do that kind of work all the time. At least every other month I'm digging through email and computers to see if a released sale person has stolen leads.

The problem is that if your working on a PC and come across illegal data (ie.- Child porn, terrorist info, lists of people's private information... etc.) you have to report it. So now your in the spot of if you report it, you can go to jail and be fined or not report it and break the law anyways.

Add to that, I can see already that if an IT person is called into court to present the data they found and they aren't licensed, the data can all be throw out as inadmissable.

great...
Another certification test.... Wait, this is a freaking degree or apprenticeship?

Seriously.... Idiot lawmakers always manage to screw stuff up somehow. I am glad I work outside of Texas now. I suppose that when I move back this will be an issue for me. It would be funny if all the Geek Squaders had to get a PI license or a CJ degree though.

Originally Posted by Gumby

great...
Another certification test.... Wait, this is a freaking degree or apprenticeship?

Seriously.... Idiot lawmakers always manage to screw stuff up somehow. I am glad I work outside of Texas now. I suppose that when I move back this will be an issue for me. It would be funny if all the Geek Squaders had to get a PI license or a CJ degree though.

There will be a new reality show like cops but with people who are horrible at IT (Geek squad).

The problem is, this law was aimed mainly at freelance folks who contract themselves out to do work on other people's computers. (Geek Squad is a perfect example) It was not intended to impact companies enforcing their own internal policy. The big difference with internal employees performing these actions is that the computers themselves belong to the employer, not the employee. Our computer forensics folks in Texas are all pretty much at a standstill until we can get some sort of legal ruling about whether this directly impacts them or not. They're only allowed to do acqusition of data and it then has to be passed to our folks at offices in other states for forensic analysis.

Becoming a PI is a pretty involved process including a 3-year 'internship' under an already licensed PI. This could be a huge blow to employers across the state.

I live in Minnesota, what if you are to do the work remotely