What happens when legislators write a law about a subject which they know nothing about, such as repairing computers? A Texas law enacted in 2007 turns computer technicians and consumers into criminals under certain conditions when a consumer or anyone seeks to have a computer repaired.
The Texas law requires a computer technician to have a private investigator’s license to analyze someone else’s data on a hard drive. The problem is that some repairs require the technician to look at the data.
The law makes it a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, a $4,000 fine and civil penalties up to $10,000 if the computer technician accesses data in violation of the law. The law even provides the same penalties for the consumer or person who knowingly requested the repair from an unlicensed computer technician.
It must have seemed like a good idea at the time for legislators who don’t consider the consequences of a law that they write, but a computer technician would have to go back to school for three years to earn a degree in Criminal Justice or complete an apprenticeship with a licensed private investigator.
The Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit against the Texas Private Security Board seeking a decision finding the law unconstitutional. Until then, if you have to fix your computer in Texas, ask your computer shop if they have a technician with a private investigator’s license. If you forget to ask and the computer police knock at your door, you can look for a computer crime defense lawyer!
