We Can't Say What It Is, but We Know We Want It
The new FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, is calling for VoIP services to include 911 service. What's a VoIP service? Who's a VoIP provider? Do online gaming applications count? Do voice-enabled instant messaging clients count? What about voice-enabled customer service applications for online commerce sites?
And, to the extent we're worried about deceptive advertising by services (tricking people into THINKING they've got 911 service that hooks into an actual police station — this connection to police is, by the way, is a hard thing to do) isn't the FTC in charge of that kind of thing?
There are so many swamps out there. This one seems enormous. Even if we can surmount the definitional and jurisdictional high hurdles, if Verizon has trouble providing 911 service to its wireless customers, how are small guys going to accomplish this (without going out of business). Is the point to run them out of business?
So many questions, so many acronyms, so many lobbyists.