FCC Extends Waiver Allowing Sprint To Ignore Unverified IP Relay 911 Callers

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended a waiver indefinitely allowing IP Relay service providers to decline to handle 911 calls from registered users who haven't been verified as eligible for the program, given continuing fake emergency calls reported by Sprint, currently the only IP Relay service provider. A bureau order Wednesday made the waiver -- provided in 2014 -- retroactive to April 29, when it had lapsed, and extended it until the FCC comes up with a permanent solution to the problem of fake 911 calls from unverified IP Relay users. IP Relay is a text-based telecom relay service that allows people with hearing and speech disabilities to communicate in text using an IP-enabled device rather than a text telephone and the public switched telephone network. To combat abuse of the IP Relay program, the FCC in 2008 imposed duties on service providers to register and verify users' eligibility, but in 2012 it required them to handle 911 calls from registered users who hadn't yet been verified as eligible. Sprint then reported an increase in unverified registered users using the IP Relay service to hide their identities when making false reports of emergencies in 911 calls to trick public-safety dispatchers into sending first responders on unnecessary missions, a practice known as "swatting."