Newscan: All Californians will soon be able to text 911 for help

Last month, the FirstNet Authority named John Stevens as this year’s recipient of the Harlin R. McEwen Public Safety Broadband Communications Award recognizing an individual “who has displayed remarkable leadership or made significant contributions in the field of public-safety broadband communications.” As New Hampshire’s longtime statewide interoperability coordinator, Stevens (pictured above, right, with FirstNet Authority […]

A rash of “swatting” incidents occurred across the country in September. Swatting is the practice of falsely reporting an emergency to elicit a law-enforcement response, ideally one involving the SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team.  As an example, Cincinnati-area high school was placed on lockdown when a 911 call was made to report an active-shooter […]

Web Roundup Items from other news organizations San Francisco will allow police to deploy robots that kill Sen. Cantwell expresses doubt that FAA, FCC nominations will receive votes this year Pegasus spyware inquiry targeted by disinformation campaign Wildfires are burning an ever-larger hole in state budgets Starlink prices in Ukraine nearly double as mobile networks […]

Energy consumption should be a decent proxy for telco operating cost trends. Before the war in Ukraine, it accounted for only about 5% of total expenses at an average telco, which spends far more on its staff (representing about a quarter of costs). But even the most economically phrased text message needs electricity to leap […]