I'm reading almost near universal praise. Isn't this essentially a "back door" to location services, only accessible to law enforcement? Sounds ... familiar.
It gets worse/better(?)
Apple's upcoming 911 feature relies on technology from RapidSOS, a New York startup. The approach developed by Apple and RapidSOS sends location data from an iPhone to a "clearinghouse" accessible to emergency calling centers. Only the 911 calling centers will be able to see the data during the call, and none of it can be used for non-emergency purposes, according to Apple.
So Apple AND RapidSOS get to see my location when using 911? Cool cool.
If the text you quoted is accurate, the data is only accessible to emergency calling centers, so no, unless they are lying neither company can see your location. Perhaps it’s encrypted, a bit like sending an iMessage to the 9/11 dispatcher, or some other means of anonymization is used.
the data is only accessible to emergency calling centers
This same argument is use to justify why we shouldn't allow encryption back doors. The reasons include: access will leak, law enforcement cannot be trusted.
I don't see anything in this announcement that addresses those concerns.
The location is also only sent during the 911 call, so if you don't dial 911 your location isn't in the database and the security of the database doesn't matter, your location is "safe".
> When this feature is made available later this year in an iOS software update, Apple phones will send fast and accurate device location to the NG911 Clearinghouse when a user dials 9-1-1.
My point was that despite policy/law, the arguments against back doors for encryption rely on the assumption that "the system" and those that control it cannot be trusted. So while it's great that Apple and others are telling us that the location is only shared when calling 911, critics of encryption backdoor would claim this "promise" is just that ... a promise. If good guys can access this data, that means bad guys can too (just like encryption backdoors!)
It gets worse/better(?)
Apple's upcoming 911 feature relies on technology from RapidSOS, a New York startup. The approach developed by Apple and RapidSOS sends location data from an iPhone to a "clearinghouse" accessible to emergency calling centers. Only the 911 calling centers will be able to see the data during the call, and none of it can be used for non-emergency purposes, according to Apple.
So Apple AND RapidSOS get to see my location when using 911? Cool cool.