The wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) rules seek to improve the effectiveness and reliability of wireless 911 service by providing 911 dispatchers with additional information on wireless 911 calls.

The wireless E911 program is divided into two parts - Phase I and Phase II. Phase I requires carriers, upon appropriate request by a local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), to report the telephone number of a wireless 911 caller and the location of the antenna that received the call. Phase II requires wireless carriers to provide far more precise location information, within 50 to 100 meters in most cases.

This means cellular phone hardware will enable the pinpointing of your location via your cellular phone signal, required by the FCC in the next two years. Privacy concerns abound, but the ability to quickly locate a 911 cellular caller is an obvious win. Competing technologies are supposedly building in privacy features, such as limiting the technology to only 911 calls, or even requiring a special button be pressed on the phone before it is trackable. The original rollout deadline was set for the end of 2005, with 25% of all phones sold by the end of this year to have support for location tracking, but major wireless carriers have already been granted extensions.

It's a year-old issue, but it's the first I've heard of it, so I'm blogging it. :)