Home Computer Repair

A Texas law passed in 2007 has remote computer repair shops statewide up in arms. Seemingly pressured by the Private Investigator lobby, lawmakers enacted House Bill 2833, which seems to require computer repair personnel to obtain a Private Investigator license before being allowed to work on customers' computers.

The relevant sections of the law in question

"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:
[...]
(B) the identity, habits, business, occupation, knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations, associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character of a person;
[...]
(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, remote computer-based data not available to the public."

According to a lawsuit initiated by the newly-established Texas Chapter of the Institute for Justice, the Texas Private Security Board, a state agency, is interpreting this as including simple computer repairs such as malware removal.

The law provides for punishment of up to one year in jail and $4,000 in fines, and up to $10,000 in civil penalties. Additionally, any customer knowingly enlisting the help of an unlicensed computer repair person (that is, without a PI license) is subject to the same punishment.

Matt Miller, Texas Institute for Justice Executive Director and lead attorney on the case, notes that "it makes no sense to require a remote computer repairman with 10 or 20 years of experience to get a degree in criminal justice just to continue working in his occupation. This law will drive up the price of remote computer repair for everyone, and that’s exactly what the private investigations industry wants."

For many small computer repair shops, this law would mean having to shut down their business until they acquire a license. To get a PI license, one needs either a criminal justice degree (with all associated costs) or a three-year apprenticeship under a licensed PI. Neither are realistic options for most small computer repair shops.

While it remains to be seen how this law will be interpreted by the TPSB and the courts, it sure is reopening the discussion about whether or not remote computer repair workers should be certified, and how. Computer repair is one of only a handful of professions that do not need certification in order to operate a business.

Source : enterpriseitplanet.com/networking/news/article.php/3757406

Unbelievable but true, in 2007 Texas decided that anyone employed as a remote computer repair technician needed to also have a Private Investigator’s license if they take any action that the government would consider “an investigation.” Because the law is so broadly worded, that could literally mean that I could replace your hard drive but not repair it. Nor could I retrieve your data. In order to comply with the law and obtain a PI license, I would have to quit supporting computers for three years and serve an apprenticeship under a licensed PI or attain a criminal justice degree. Either way, that would be several years away from technology that refreshes itself every 18 months or so.

According to the author of the law, state Representative Joe Driver, R-Garland, technicians are misinterpreting the law. Driver told the Houston Chronicle that the law was sought by the private security industry and would not apply to people who do nothing but repair hardware. It would only apply to those who retrieve data for the purposes of analysis to create a report for a third party.

According to Driver, a current class action lawsuit against the Texas Private Security Board is nothing more than a publicity stunt on the part of the Institute for Justice. But Matt Miller of the Institute for Justice says that the law is so vaguely worded that it could be enforced broadly.

The Texas Private Security Board has interpreted the law as being “data retrieval for a potential civil or criminal matter.” According to Miller, that could apply to a technician searching for the source of a virus, parents seeking to find out the names of the people their child emails or messages, or people employed by companies to determine what employees are doing on their work computers during working hours. The result of any of that kind of data retrieval and analysis could be considered potentially usable in a civil or criminal matter.

I look at it from the standpoint of having been there, done that. I have found all manner of things on a client’s PC in the course of doing a seemingly unrelated job. I have, as a part of my job, been required to provide detailed reports on user Internet activity to seniors. Probably a good thing I don’t work in Texas.

Another aspect of the law that should also be considered is that anyone in violation can be subject to criminal penalties up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine in addition to civil penalties of up to $10,000. And that doesn’t just apply to the technician. Any consumer who knowingly uses an unlicensed company faces the same penalties.

In my opinion, the Institute for Justice is taking the right path. By forcing attention on this law, hopefully the end result will be clarification of who may do what. Perhaps this time through, Mr. Driver will consider asking an average remote computer repair technician what kinds of work they do and possibly gain consensus on what should be acceptable and what should not. I can understand the Texas Private Security Board wanting to act to protect people’s privacy but I believe that this law may be a step too far.

Share your thoughts. In the course of your day would a law like this impact you? How?

Thanks to OnTheRopes for pointing this out!

Source : blogs.techrepublic.com.com/techofalltrades/?p=162

Rockwell stressed no voter-sensitive information was on the home computer repair when it was taken.

"We don't keep any voter registration information on the computer. That's all done through a database that's linked up to the Texas Secretary of State office," Rockwell said.

He noted a password is needed to access the database and that his was not saved to the computer. He's since gone in and changed his password and other private information to deter anyone from gaining access to documents and files.

Most of what was included on the laptop were copies of contracts signed with area entities to hold elections, figures relating to past voter turnout and sample letters to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"It's all things that are public information anyway, and were just easy to access there on the computer," Rockwell said.

A report was filed with the Mount Pleasant Police Department, but the laptop has yet to turn up.

"Even though all the pawn shops and authorities have been notified, it's probably history," said Titus County Judge Sam Russell, who admitted his main concern was if sensitive information was kept on the computer.

All area pawn shops and computer-related businesses have been notified.