Wireless Location Accuracy FNPRM Expected to Be Approved, With FCC Democrats' Qualms
Commissioners are expected to approve a Further NPRM Friday that would enable first responders to more accurately identify the floor level for most wireless 911 calls from multistory buildings. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks are expected to raise questions about the FCC's approach. The FNPRM proposes a vertical location accuracy metric, a z-axis, of plus or minus 3 meters for 80 percent of indoor wireless calls to 911.
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Rosenworcel is focused on whether 3 meters will be valuable to first responders, especially since that means rescuers would often have to check three floors to find a caller, FCC officials said. APCO raised similar concerns.
Other questions expected at the meeting are on safeguarding the privacy of the location information and on how broadly the technology will be deployed within different devices and whether some low-income consumers could be left behind. That's according to FCC officials.
Chairman Ajit Pai “has the votes, now it’s a matter of working with the carriers and technology providers to make this happen,” said a lawyer with carrier clients. The agency didn't comment.
Docket 07-114 has seen few filings. Only CTIA, APCO and Public Knowledge reported meetings to discuss the item. CTIA's included the big four U.S. carriers. In the latest filing, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said he received a call from an aide to Starks asking about privacy concerns (see 1903130038).
Feld later cited continuing reports that carriers sold sensitive geolocation data to “bounty hunters” and others. “You would think, with the FCC scheduled to vote this Friday on a mandate to make E911 geolocation even more precise, the FCC would … remind carriers that this information is super sensitive and subject to protections above and beyond the FCC’s usual privacy rules for phone information,” he said. The FCC should also “solicit comment on how to improve privacy protections to prevent these kinds of problems from occurring in the future,” he said.
“I have not heard anything from the FCC and have no idea what's likely,” Feld told us Thursday. “This is a fairly simple change to make in the order. The 2014 FNPRM managed to ask the relevant privacy questions in a single paragraph.”
The FCC has a long history on vertical accuracy of wireless calls to 911. The 2014 FNPRM proposed measures and time frames to improve location accuracy for wireless E-911 calls from indoors, including a 3-meter z-axis metric for 80 percent of calls. A 2015 order established benchmarks and timetables for the deploying z-axis technology or dispatchable location in the top 50 markets. It put off a decision on a specific z-axis metric until it received more testing data.
CTIA earlier warned “further technology development and testing remains necessary to validate the accuracy of vertical location technology solutions to meet the FCC’s proposed metric of [plus or minus] 3 meters across regions, weather conditions and devices” (see 1903060053). APCO wants the FCC to seek comment on whether calls can provide information on floor levels rather than just the z-axis, which it said would be helpful to emergency responders (see 1902260064).
“While delivering vertical information for 911 is challenging, the wireless industry is working hard to develop and test innovative solutions,” said Matt Gerst, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs. “We are encouraged by the FCC’s effort to establish a common goal that we can work towards together with the public safety community.” APCO didn’t comment.