In a recent blog post, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr outlined plans to vote on several proposals aimed at improving the reliability and accuracy of critical technologies, including GPS and 911 emergency services.
On Tuesday afternoon, Massachusetts experienced a statewide disruption in its emergency calling system, caused by a malfunctioning firewall from the state’s 911 vendor, Comtech.
Dallas, Texas, is grappling with a ransomware attack that has caused widespread service outages and impacted critical systems, including 911 dispatch services. The Royal ransomware gang has claimed responsibility for the cyber attack, which has left the Texas city scrambling to restore services and assess the full extent of the damage.
Dispatchers at the Summit County 911 Center have reportedly been fielding huge numbers of automated notifications from local skiers’ iPhones and Apple Watches at the county’s four ski areas last weekend. New iPhones feature “crash detection” and “fall detection” that automatically call 911 when the device thinks its user has been in a car wreck or other accident, which skiing apparently sets off as well.
Emergency 911 services in 14 states went down temporarily on Monday, putting lives at risk. Some argue that the outages, which lasted for up to an hour, were caused by technical issues at Microsoft, which provides communications products used by emergency service departments. Others believe that the shutdown was caused by an issue with an emergency telephone service called Intrado.
Pro-life Operation Rescue has released a video documenting 100 medical emergencies at abortion clinics in 2019.
An internal report from the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida indicates officers were over 30 minutes late to a June 9, 2019, shooting because a 911 call center supervisor was watching Netflix.
AT&T has been hit with a $5.25 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over several 911 emergency line outages in 2017.
As a 56-year-old Akron, Ohio, mother talked to a 911 dispatcher, her son could be heard in the background firing two shots at an alleged home intruder.
911 call centers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to hackers, who shut down the centers’ systems before demanding a ransom, according to a report.
