We all know that Texas has the harshest laws, not matter what the crime is. This time they are targeting the IT world stating that a PI (private investigator) license must be obtained by all techs working in computer repair shops.
If the law is not obeyed, the offender will be fined as much as $4,000 or he could receive a 1 year jail sentence. In order to obtain such a license, a 3 year apprenticeship or criminal justice degree is required.
Since computer repair shops do not want to break the law, they will have to shut their doors for a while, just until they get a PI license. There are only two ways to do that: either get a criminal justice degree or spend 3 years as an apprentice to a licensed PI. Either way, the process is rather time consuming.
If you think that the repair shops have it bad, then you must know that the recently passed law applies to customers as well. If your computer breaks down and you take it to an unlicensed repair shop, you too could be fined $4,000 or spend one year in jail. So if your local shop is not an option, then the only thing you can do is ship it to an out of state repair shop or a large forensic computer company.
Dallas and Houston based companies have already resorted to employing licensed PIs. These are large companies that specialize in providing forensic computer services, and sometimes must present their findings in a court of law. In regard to such companies, the law makes a bit of sense. But does it really apply to small, local computer repair shops that only fix a user's problem? Such shops have every chance of going out of business as more and more PC users resort to larger companies.
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