This is in response to the numerous (over a hundred in the current wave) bomb threats phoned in to Jewish Community Centers and similar facilities
[FCC Press Release]The Federal Communications Commission today issued an emergency temporary waiver to Jewish Community Centers and [the] telecom- munications carriers [which] serve them to allow these entities and law enforcement agencies to access the caller-ID information of threatening and harassing callers.
"This agency must and will do whatever it can to combat the recent wave of bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "I am pleased that we are taking quick action to address this issue and hope that this waiver will help Jewish Community Centers, telecommunications carriers, and law enforcement agencies track down the perpetrators of these crimes."
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_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key snipped-for-privacy@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
***** Moderator's Note *****It's not exactly clear to me if the exception to caller-id blocking is being given to local law enforcement, or directly to the community centers which have been threated. If it's the former, then Mr. Pai is grabbing some free ink (police have always had that access), but if the later, then Mr. Pai is setting a bad precedent: "Jewish Community Centers [and] telecommunications carriers" are not, IMO, the appro- priate agencies to find and/or punish those making crank phone calls. IMHO, giving /any/ religious community center access to blocked caller-id info for all callers will come with the risk of inapropriate responses to peevish or rude callers.
Public safety agencies should not be allowed to subcontract their jobs to religious leaders who are neither trained in law enforcement, nor accustomed to applying the often-frustrating, but necessary, rules about which calls, exactly, rise to the level of criminal behavior.
Please ask yourself -
- When I call the Striar center and complain that the chemicals used for the pool could cause an explosion because I think they're stored improperly, should my call be placed in the same category as that of a threat to kill people?
- If I call the local mosque and voice a concern that one of the worshippers spoke inappropriately to my sister, should I be regarded as a dangerous islamophobe?
- When I ring the Kingdom Hall and ask that those proselytizing in my neighborhood respect my "no soliciting" sign and refrain from waking me up at three in the afternoon when I work the night shift, am I an extremist?
- If I should be able to call the YMCA and ask if my yoga class has been cancelled, without having to worry about being placed on some fundraising list.
Cops are schooled and experienced at evaluating both context and capability, which is why they are given the job of evaluating "threat" calls, and they should be the first line of defense, not the second.
Bill Horne Moderator