911 Legislation Trapped by Odd Politics

Both the U.S. House and Senate have passed version of legislation that grant VoIP providers direct access to the nation’s 911 systems, but a final bill is caught up in politics un-related to emergency communications. Specifically, the House version–but not the Senate version– of the bill includes a provision that 911 databases cannot be used “for any competitive purpose.” The telephone companies want permission to use the 911 information as evidence of market competition in filings with the FCC. But for complicated reasons, the House disagreed. Read a short story about the situation here.