Editing Enhanced 911

== Overview ==

'''Enhanced 911''' ('''E911''') is an initiative to ensure that [[mobile telephone]] users can obtain emergency services as easily as users of [[wireline]] telephones, are driving [[wireless]] telecommunications carriers to implement technologies that can locate a caller with significant precision.

E911 is “a more advanced version of the traditional [[911 system]], which merely routes an emergency call to the local [[PSAP]], because it provides additional information about the caller: E911 systems route 911 calls through the use of a [[Selective Router]] to a geographically appropriate [[PSAP]] based on the caller's location. E911 also provides the call taker with the caller's call back number, referred to as [[Automatic Numbering Information]] ([[ANI]]), and, in many cases, location information &mdash; a capability referred to as [[Automatic Location Identification]] ([[ALI]]).”<ref>E911 Requirements for IP-Enabled Service Providers, First Report and Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 20 F.C.C.R. 10245, 10251 ¶13 (2005) (citations omitted).</ref>

== Privacy concerns ==

Although the [[E911]] requirements apply only to calls made from [[mobile telephone]]s seeking emergency assistance, once that capability is available, many worry that such information will be collected and sold for other purposes, such as marketing. Some observers point out that [[wireless carrier]]s may be motivated to sell such customer data to recoup the costs of deploying wireless [[E911]].

One aspect of this concern is that companies could build [[profile]]s of consumers using [[data]] collected over a period of time. In that context, one question is whether limits should be set on the length of time location information can be retained. Some argue that once a 911 call has been completed, or after a subscriber to a location-based service received the desired information (such as directions to the nearest 
restaurant), that the location information should be deleted.

== Spam concerns ==

A major concern is that if [[location information]] is available to commercial entities, a [[wireless]] customer walking or driving along the street may be deluged with unsolicited advertisements from nearby restaurants or stores alerting them to merchandise available in their establishments. Supporters of unsolicited advertising insist that consumers benefit from directed advertisements because they are more likely to offer products in which the consumer is interested. They also argue that advertising is protected by the [[First Amendment]]. 

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Telecommunications]]
[[Category:VoIP]]
[[Category:Definition]]