I'm not sure that the laws probably differ that much (although I have no idea) but in Idaho, anyone can be a PI. There is no licensing requirement and no governing body or oversight, so a PI in Idaho would never face being reprimanded or losing his/her license. I guess the PI's own moral compass would guide his/her investigations - as long as the PI stayed within the law, anything goes (as far investigating). But that's where it gets confusing to me. It doesn't sound like PI's are covered by any sort of privilege, so if a client told the PI something incriminating or the PI found incriminating evidence, what exactly is the PI's obligation legally? And what if it's not even something to do with his client, but someone he is interviewing or something like that? I have no idea. Does signing a confidentiality agreement release the PI from any accountability? I don't have the answer to that either...
Here (
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=248707) is an interesting article where a person is growing marijuana and wants to hire a PI to find out who is stealing said marijuana from him. However, he first wants to know if the hired PI would turn him in for illegal activity. It's an interesting read, however, the setting is California, not Idaho, so it's not entirely applicable. PI's are considered contract employees and I found this part interesting:
"Confidentiality clauses with contract employees are not the same as
with an attorney. If a contract employee sees something illegal taking
place he can decline the job or stop work he has already begun and
become obligated to report the illegal activity to the authorities.
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy or confidentiality
afforded to someone who is violating the law, outside his attorney
(and in some instances occasionally a clergyman, doctor or spouse –
but that’s another matter entirely)."
I don't know the qualifications of the person writing the answer either, so take it for what it's worth. I feel like I'm getting off on a tangent now.... back to Idaho versus Texas. Could a PI licensed in Texas face punishment or loss of license from the Texas licensing board for something that was done out of state??? Maybe that is the real question... Ugh. I think I need to think on this some more... if none of this makes sense, just ignore it. It's all just my interpretation, ideas, thoughts, etc....