The Electronic Comment Filing System Version (ECFS) 2.0 was released to the public on October 23, 2009. ECFS 2.0 provides complete and open transparency to consumers and industry on FCC’s rulemaking processes. The system was designed to insure full and active participation in the development of rules and regulations so that interested parties may file comments and view the full record of proceedings under consideration before the Commission over the Internet. Additionally, ECFS 2.0 allows for multiple methods of downloading data on over 3,000 proceedings with associated filings, while also insuring that interested parties can use features such as RSS feeds and full-text search to stay abreast of new dockets and filings added to ECFS.
The old version, ECFS 1.0, lasted eleven years with very few changes, but the future of ECFS will continue to evolve through active discussion on how the tool can be continually improved. ECFS 2.0 was developed with tools and an architecture that allows for FCC staff, industry and the general public to collaborate in a partnership to make the system more useful for years into the future. We want to encourage feedback and participation on which new technologies should be considered to improve the Commission’s eRulemaking system, for example: adding taxonomy terms for tagging content; providing XML upload and download of filings with secure authentication; adding audio and video filings to proceedings; and including social media dialogues to proceedings for inclusion into the record. Many of these changes, plus ideas from you, are within our reach and through a collaborative effort we can make ECFS a more effective tool for public interaction with our agency.
We hope you take the time to contribute your thoughts and ideas.
