§ 98C.002.Applicability of Chapter

A narrow exclusion, and each of its three conditions matters.

The chapter does not apply to a law enforcement agency or a law enforcement agency employee acting within the scope of employment in investigating Internet crimes.

The exclusion exists because online investigation requires the conduct the chapter forbids. Investigating child exploitation, fraud, and trafficking online routinely involves an officer posing as someone else — a minor, a buyer, a fellow participant — which is online impersonation as the chapter defines it.

Without this provision an undercover officer would be personally exposed to a civil claim by the person they were investigating.

"Within the scope of employment" is the real limit. An officer using the same techniques for private purposes — to monitor an ex-partner, to harass someone — is outside the exclusion and liable like anyone else.

"Investigating Internet crimes" narrows it further. The exclusion is tied to the subject matter of the investigation, not to police work generally, so conduct connected to an investigation of some other kind is not covered by its terms.

And it covers law enforcement agencies only. A private investigator, a journalist, a corporate security team, or a parent using an assumed identity gets nothing from this section, however legitimate their purpose.

The construction provision that follows addresses the different question of federal preemption, acknowledging the Section 230 limits on reaching interactive computer services.