E911: Give The FCC A Big Enough Lever...
The FCC has been fighting to get E911 (locating a 911 caller) services deployed in the US, and has faced resistance from carriers, technological hiccups, and local governments who abuse 911 funds. Recently, they have found allies in Government like Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer who are whipping the local governments into shape, but today the FCC decided to use a bigger lever: The FCC is starting to educate the public on what E911 is, how it will work, and how to push for it in their local area. My interpretation of this move is that the FCC is deliberately doing this earlier than necessary so that the public will get angry at the abuses of funding, and any heel-dragging by carriers, and force faster implementations. Some carriers actually applauded the move, probably because they have pretty much given up on the unsuccessful heel-dragging.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
