Susan Crawford explains the FCC’s requirement that VoIP providers enable their users to call 911, reach the right local number, and automatically provide the local operator with location information.

VoIP providers in the US will have to negotiate separate contracts with 6000 emergency answering points, persuade the Bells to give them access to the necessary facilities at a sensible cost, and load up routers and databases with the right information. And compliance will be sufficiently expensive to make it no longer worthwhile to do business — unless you’re Vonage.

Susan continues:

This seems to be an unprincipled and blatantly political order designed to protect the incumbents’ ability to control the market for online voice services. Although the Commission is coy about the basis for its jurisdiction (how strange is that?), to the extent it decides to lean on Title I the DC Circuit has already said harsh things about the FCC’s overreaching in that statutory context. It’s a good bet that a good lawyer could attack jurisdiction effectively here.

Susan in her next post points to a report that explains the “complexity in every direction” of VoIP systems providing 911 services. [Technorati tags: voip fcc SusanCrawford]

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