Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 26 Jun 91 05:30:06 GMT From: Gordon Burditt Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Emergency Calls (was Operator Busy Break-In) Message-ID: Organization: Gordon Burditt Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 496, Message 4 of 7 Lines: 54 The original start of this thread involved a charge for an operator break-in on an ongoing call, so one party could receive another emergency or non-emergency call. The Moderator noted that it was illegal to refuse to yield the line to RECEIVE an emergency call (or let someone make one). I claim that an 'emergency call' directed TO ME, a person who does not work for emergency services, can never happen because an emergency call is directed to emergency services, by both legal definition and common sense. (When was the last time someone was in an automobile accident and needed an emergency port of UNIX to a new platform? How about the last time a building was on fire and the fire department needed the root password to put out the fire?) The only people a law against the CALLED party failing to release the line for an emergency call would affect would be the police, fire department, ambulance services, etc. If they are not the (intended) called party, IT'S NOT AN EMERGENCY. > [Moderator's Note: Your telephone book pretty accurately describes an > 'emergency'. Examples perhaps you could understand: Your neighbor's > phone is out of order; they knock on your door and ask you to call the > Fire Department. You refuse, because your single line is engaged on > another call. This does not involve a call TO ME. Nor does it involve an operator break-in. (And if I refused in these circumstances, I deserve punishment). > You are at work using the phone and your landlord or > neighbor calls to say YOUR house caught fire. This is not an emergency (unless I'm working at the fire department). An emergency is a situation where human life or property is in danger and prompt summoning of aid is essential. Not 'prompt notification of the owner'. Not 'prompt notification of the next of kin'. Not 'prompt claim processing from the injured's insurance company'. Not 'prompt identification of the injured/dead bodies'. Not 'prompt payment for medical services'. Not 'prompt signing of legal forms'. > You are using a pay > phone on the street corner. There is an autombile accident and one of > the victoims asks you to get off the phone so they can call the police > or ambulance. This does not involve a call TO ME. Nor does it involve an operator break-in. The situation I am trying to address involves a break-in for a call directed TO ME, not to emergency services. Gordon L. Burditt sneaky.lonestar.org!gordon