[Two approaches have been approved by the FCC: cell station based and subscriber unit based.  The subscriber solution (e.g., GPS or triangulation from synchronized broadcast TV color-burst) is much preferred as it places control of the handset and therefore, possibly, the end user.  If the end user does get control it would enable interesting applications (e.g., location escrow authenticated by an imbedded tamper-proof smart chip which could be encrypted to a user key within the phone).]

Public safety agencies urge quick rollout of wireless location services
By BOB BREWIN
(September 27, 2001)

With a Monday deadline looming, three national public safety organizations want the Federal Communications Commission to stop granting waivers and extensions to cellular communications companies that would allow them to miss the long-mandated start date for E911 wireless location services.

The agencies said the FCC should hit carriers that miss the deadline with "serious penalties" for noncompliance.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. -- and the heavy use of cellular networks by the public and rescue workers, including jury-rigged automatic location systems in New York -- make it difficult for the FCC to grant new waivers for a system that it first envisioned in 1996, said Jim Goerke, wireless implementation director at the National Emergency Number Association in Columbus, Ohio.

The Sept. 11 attacks have helped focus attention on the importance of wireless emergency contact information, Goerke said, adding, "[The cellular carriers] have had a lot of time to get this together."
While the FCC hasn't indicated how it will act, analysts expect it to take a strong stand. The chances of continued leniency by the commission "are about equal to everyone being a winner in Las Vegas," said Alan Reiter, an analyst at Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing in Chevy Chase, Md.

The technology isn't perfect, but it does exist, said Reiter. The cellular industry has been engaged in "legal stalling," a tactic that won't work in the postattack world, he said.

Full story at <http://www.idg.net/crd_idgsearch_2.html?url=http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO64274,00.html.html>