http://cw33.trb.com/news/kdaf-062608...0,486476.story
Seems you'll need to pony up a bunch of time and money in order to be able to repair PCs in Texas.
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http://cw33.trb.com/news/kdaf-062608...0,486476.story
Seems you'll need to pony up a bunch of time and money in order to be able to repair PCs in Texas.
Well now that's plain silly :confused:
It is Texas. I'm actually surprised this didn't come out of California.Quote:
Originally Posted by =Tron=
I guess they have their hands full at the moment trying to legalize weed ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry
http://laist.com/2008/06/30/californ..._for_eve_1.php
I do understand the point of this law, and in a way, it does make sense.
Here's the issue at hand. People have been taking their machines to repair tech's and having the tech's search for evidence of infidelity, crimes against nature and such.
That evidence has probably then been used in divorce cases as well as having people arrested. I'm sure attorney's have argued that the evidence could possibly have been 'tainted' or planted by the tech, as the tech has no legal standing to be looking for the evidence.
Therefore, a PI license must be had, to ensure that the person is a 'trusted' member of the community and can be held to a higher standard of morals and ethics.
Of course, that doesn't help in the public's eye of the stigma of being a PI, just look at the examples we have, Magnum, Simon & Simon..
Of course, Magnum, was the first PI to be heavily involved in computer security as well as physical security, so he was actually cool.
My personal feeling about this is this: If a tech finds evidence of a crime, the PC should be shutdown immediately and turned over to proper authorities. Of course, I don't condone tech's just randomly roaming through harddrives looking for things either. They should only do what's necessary to complete the work they were instructed to do.
I do have an example of this: When I was doing work on my own, a guy had me fix up his machine, which I did, removed virii and malware out the wahzoo. When I brought the machine back, he prompted hooked it up and opened freeAgent (newsreader) and in his list of favorites was all the alt.binaries.<porn> including a bunch of stuff related to underage.
At that point, I finished as quickly as I could and left, and never worked for him again. Should I have reported him, who can say. All I saw was a list of freely available newsgroups that anyone could have displayed on their machine. I did not search his machine while I had it, and I did not see any evidence while I was in his presence.
I did discuss the matter with some LEO's, and since I didn't have any clear cut evidence, they determined there wasn't much they could do either.
If the tech is asked to find things related to a civil matter (divorce, kids activities and such), then the tech should ask the user to sign a waiver that whatever is found may not be used in a court of law and the tech and his employer are exempt from testifying in any civil matter. The company could then explain that any evidence the person wants retrieved would need to pass through proper legal channels, ie Attorneys.
I do feel that streaker69 has a solid point, however as I am a strong believer in peoples right to privacy I do feel there is a risk involved here.
When technicians will be required to get a PI licence to be able to do their actual work and repair peoples computers it is not too far fetched to think that they may feel that it is part of their work to go trough all information that can possibly be obtained from the computer in search for evidence on any criminal activity.
I do agree with streaker69 on that any incriminating information stumbled upon during the actual work should be reported to the appropriate authorities. However, I feel that making it a criminal act to take your broken computer to be fixed by a company not filled with snoops is driving the issue to far.
tron has a point. as someone who does digital forensics fairly often here at work it is scarey to think that some jackass at the local bestbuy, circuitcity, or general pc repair shop thinks he has the write to go searching through your computer with out the proper forensic software necessary for the evidence to upheld in court.
I believe that's the point of the law. To keep most assjacks from being able to submit evidence. I think the spirit of the law is good, the implementation of it is bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by newkoba
It should be, that if you're going to submit evidence in a case, then your tech had better have a PI license, but it should not be required that every tech have one.
I second that.Quote:
Originally Posted by streaker69
But like so many other pisspoor laws, the primary intent is very clear.
It's a money grab, taxation upon your career choice. The state gets money for every PI license, plus the renewals.