Cellphones Across the US Will Receive a 'Presidential Alert' at 2:18 pm Eastern Today (nytimes.com) 267
At 2:18 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, cellphones across the United States will emit the ominous ring of an emergency presidential alert. From a report: It will be the first nationwide test of a wireless emergency alert system, designed to warn people of a dire threat, like a terror attack, pandemic or natural disaster. There is no opting out, which has already prompted a lawsuit. "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System," it will read. "No action is needed." Two minutes later, televisions and radios will show test alerts. There is no notification plan for landlines. Officials say they believe that the wireless test will reach about 75 percent of the cellphones in the country, though they hope the number is higher. It could take up to 30 minutes for the alerts to be transmitted to all devices.
Some things that could interfere: ongoing phone calls or data transmission, a device that is turned off or out of range, and smaller cellphone providers that are not participating in the program. The test, originally planned for last month but delayed by Hurricane Florence, is the culmination of many years of work. The federal government developed a system to issue the alerts, which are scripted in coordination with numerous government agencies. They are limited to 90 characters, but will be expanded to 360 in the future. The Communications Act of 1934 gives the president the power to use communications systems in case of an emergency, and a 2006 law called for the Federal Communications Commission to work with the wireless industry to transmit such messages.
Some things that could interfere: ongoing phone calls or data transmission, a device that is turned off or out of range, and smaller cellphone providers that are not participating in the program. The test, originally planned for last month but delayed by Hurricane Florence, is the culmination of many years of work. The federal government developed a system to issue the alerts, which are scripted in coordination with numerous government agencies. They are limited to 90 characters, but will be expanded to 360 in the future. The Communications Act of 1934 gives the president the power to use communications systems in case of an emergency, and a 2006 law called for the Federal Communications Commission to work with the wireless industry to transmit such messages.
Obama-era implementation (Score:5, Informative)
This was implemented during under Obama: [fcc.gov]
WEA was established in 2008 pursuant to the Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act and became operational in 2012.
Why the delays? (Score:2)
Re: Why the delays? (Score:5, Informative)
> The GSM protocol includes a broadcasting feature that overrides all other transmission
> in order to deliver emergency messages to all cellphones simultaneously.
> Why then the delays?
Because roughly half the cell phones in America have historically been CDMA devices, not GSM. CDMA generally had comparable functionality (on paper, at least), but wasn't literally identical.
Compounding the problem, major parts of CDMA's functionality was officially "optional" & left up to the carrier to pick & choose. Qualcomm intentionally allowed Sprint & Verizon to implement CDMA in slightly-incompatible ways... and Sprint & Verizon liked that, because it meant that even a theoretically-unlocked phone from one network would be forever crippled & dysfunctional on the other, EVEN IF a user managed to get it activated somehow.
Ultimately, it was (mostly) Apple & Google who put an end to much of the silliness. Blackberry & Sidekick mitigated it... but only for THEIR devices... and used their mitigations as a way to try and lock out Palm & Microsoft. The main thing that saved Apple & Google was Microsoft's purchase of Danger & subsequent willingness to license out their patent pool on fair & non-discriminatory terms (and why Microsoft makes more in profits from the sale of an iPhone or Android phone than it ever did from the sale of a Windows Mobile phone).
Re:Obama-era implementation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Obama-era implementation (Score:2)
Yup. If people just focused on how much power & responsibility their actual representatives gave away, we wouldn't have half the nasty us vs them discussions.
Concentrated power instead of checks and balances (Score:2, Interesting)
The saddest part of all that is that while I expect liberals to maybe disagree (or at least be ambivalent) about that, I sure as fuck expect conservatives to be 100% behind your statement without the slightest hesitation. IMHO it's the very core of conservativism, moreso than even "low taxes" or "states' rights." It's right up there with preferring free markets over central planning, since it's a variant of the same underlying idea: mistrust of power, fear of arrogant power.
But Republicans disagree with yo
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Are you saying distrust of concentrated power means I'm a closet liberal?
I'm the guy with the reversed right/left axis?!
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Back when you could trust a presidents message to be something based on the countries best interests.
Unless it was to children on their first day of school, and you lived in a red state.
This is a test? (Score:5, Funny)
Let's hope it works better than the Hawaii test.
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I can see only two uses of this:
1) Political bullshit
2) Inciting mass panic
Is there anything else that a nationwide alert system could possibly get used for?
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Actually, I can't help but feel like China and Russia missed their chance to nuke us!
Everyone was expecting a test this afternoon... if China and Russia nuked us, everyone would see the message and think "oh, it's only a test we're not really getting bombed..."
You missed you chance Ivan.
Re:This is a test? (Score:4, Informative)
Step 1. "That'll never happen. You're being overly dramatic."
Step 2. It happens.
Step 3. "He's a different kind of President. You'll just have to accept these kinds of things."
Repeat.
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They live the Narcissist's Prayer (https://www.chrisshepherd.org/the-narcissists-prayer/)
That didn’t happen.
And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.
And if it was, that’s not a big deal.
And if it is, that’s not my fault.
And if it was, I didn’t mean it.
And if I did...
You deserved it.
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Step 3. "He's a different kind of President. You'll just have to accept these kinds of things."
Step 0. Ignore that Obama hung out [slashdot.org] with the black equivalent of David Duke, Louis Farrakhan.
Was Obama a "different" kind of President? We don't have to accept these kind of things, we just have to ignore them.
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Correct link: https://www.foxnews.com/politi... [foxnews.com]
Re:This is a test? (Score:5, Informative)
Fox "news" is never correct.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt. Ignore inconvenient news, including inconvenient photographs that show Saint Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus hang out with racist hate preachers. But here's the same story from the liberal New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/cult... [newyorker.com]
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What is the left's problem with one major conservative media outlet existing when they have NYT, WaPo, CNN, ABC, MSNBC... and ESPN. It's not like any of those is a paragon of unbiasedness. Last time NYT endorsed a Republican presidential candidate was in 1956; last time WaPo endorsed a Republican candidate: never.
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Technically, they don't provide the news, instead they have editorials disguised as news stories.
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For what it's worth, I'll bet Louis Farrakhan or David Duke would be fascinating (say it in Spock's voice) to talk to.
You don't have to actually believe whatever bullshit they spout, but listening to them might actually be at least entertaining.
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And by "hung out" you mean "taken a picture with once". Yeah.
Are you a useful idiot or just an apologist? This is not about "taking pictures", this is about seeking support [newyorker.com] and working with the Nation of Islam:
"Indeed, it's a sign of Farrakhan's oddly lasting hold on popular influence that he was even invited to clink drinks with the members of the C.B.C."
But his Farrakhan connections [spectator.org] go way back.
And let's put this into perspective. Trump was raked over the coals by the national media because he didn't immediately disavow David Duke when a reporter mentioned that Duk
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Oh please, he insults victims of assault
Do you mean Kavanaugh's phony accuser that has an inconsistent, unsubstantiated story and has been caught lying about being afraid to fly, among other things?
attacks gold star families
You mean gold star families that attacked him politically?
and you think he wouldn't survive a simple picture?
No, he wouldn't have. David Duke is radioactive. There was a national media storm just because Trump didn't disavow him quick enough. And yet the same media is silent about Obama's and the Congressional Black Caucus's long associations with Farrakhan.
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They are not equivalent, so please stop.
Yes, Farrakhan has said some crazy, stupid, hateful things, but that's about where the equivalence ends.
The KKK, an organization to which David Duke belongs, has a very long history of systemic violence, lynching, and intimidation. Trying to claim that Farrakhan is equivalent is like saying that yelling at someone is the equivalent to brutally murdering them.
Neither are good, but they are far from equival
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Message didn't end with "So sad!" Obviously false.
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Nah, the real problem is that if he made a voice recording that went out, no one would believe him no matter what he said.
Not participating (Score:2)
Will need to research which carriers are "not participating" and consider their plans for my future contract...
Re:Not participating (Score:5, Insightful)
So what exactly is causing you issues with this? Local TV stations have been doing this for years for severe weather situations. Now if they start broadcasting baseball scores or election results, then I will be with you on the objections.
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So you have a fear of something that has not happened and you have ZERO proof (other than your quite vivid imagination) that it will happen which results in you changing cell phone carrier....gotcha.
May I make a suggestion. Turn off the news, stop reading every conspiratorial news site and just start enjoying life because you are letting non-events control you.
I will now stop feeding the troll and take my own advice because it is sunny outside.
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Good idea. There are plenty of excellent alternatives with a similar flavor but less of the artificial ingredients.
And the message will read... (Score:5, Funny)
covfefe
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Was anyone ever able to figure that one out?
According to Spicer it was a well thought out message and the people who it was intended for knew exactly what it was meant to say.
(I found Spicer's brown-nosing about the situation more amusing than the typo itself).
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"Our President is human. He occasionally mistypes words like 'coverage'."
Would that have been a better way for Spicer to have handled it?
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"Our President is human. He occasionally mistypes words like 'coverage'."
Would that have been a better way for Spicer to have handled it?
That would have been accurate and understandable and no one would really have a major fault with the president over that.
Spicer just came across as a buffoon with his explanation.
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It was a typo of "coverage". Why they didn't just say that, and doubled down as intentional, I do not know.
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That would make my day.
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covfefe
Is this system President Trump's backup plan, in case Twitter ever gives him the boot?
How will they know? (Score:3, Interesting)
How do they plan to measure this number? That worries me WAY more than the fact that we get an alert. Is there some process built into phone software and.or the cell network that will report this, and if so what else can it report regarding my activity?
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'Hey carriers, how many phones were connected to your network when the alert was sent'. Are you under the impression they don't know this information?
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Re: How will they know? (Score:2)
Are we playing the game of Questions?
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Call a significant number of people and ask them if they got the message. "A significant number" would be around 1000 probably.
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Be sure to call just the landlines.
Notice you get texts when you turn your phone on? (Score:5, Informative)
Have you ever noticed that when you turn your phone on after it has been off all day, you receive texts that were sent hours earlier? That's because the carrier doesn't just send it out to you and hope that you got it, the phone acknowledges receiving the message. Until the message is acknowledged as received, the carrier keeps it to retry later.
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why even worry? seriously, texting designed for 99% percent casual and occasional comm like "booty calls" and "pick up milk & eggs on way home"
never intended to communicate to ALL FUCKING CUSTOMERS AT ONCE, and not intended to warn people in emergency.
so who gives a shit what it really does? your car is not a stunt vehicle either, despite what you see in movies
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Re: How will they know? (Score:2)
He is suffering from covfefe withdrawal.
Phone will be off... (Score:2)
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Please no (Score:2)
I will turn mine off (Score:2)
Of course the sirens will be going off at 2pm eastern anyway, its the first wednesday of the month.
What happens if your phone is in airplane mode?
2pm EDT (1pm CDT) is sleep time for me - I work nights
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2pm EDT (1pm CDT) is sleep time for me - I work nights
Well, at least you won't have to worry about being woken up when Trump accidentally sends one of these out at 3am instead of a tweet.
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> Amber alerts are only annoying at 3am
Obviously this is a RED ALERT not an amber one
(cue TOS sound fx)
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I'll go and change the bulb right now.
Remember when.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't disappoint me
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Might want to brush up on your reading skills. He was pointing out to all of the tin foil wearing people that the system was never abused by any President.
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No, and you don't either. Because they DID.
Really? Bush and Obama both used the national presidential alert system to send political messages? Are you sure it wasn't just the CIA beaming then directly to your brain from their satellite?
Almost as annoying as (Score:2)
the three times a week emergency test on my TV.
Or the amber alerts that are from somewhere else in my state 400 miles away,
The real test of their system will be the ability to block /s
Reply All to the messages.
Appropriate Soundtrack (Score:2)
Here's Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" [youtube.com] from Carmina Burana. For best results, start plating at 2:17:36 Eastern, preferably in an environment with a lot of cell phones.
Then sit back and brace for the Toad pic to come.
Pandemic? (Score:2)
This wouldn't seem to be at all useful in a pandemic. It's not like they spread that fast.
If you are in the affected area of a earthquake you would already know, but for an incoming tsunami it would certainly be useful. I sure hope they don't go crazy with this. I turned off the other alerts due to too many stupid alarms. 35 mph does not rate a high wind warning.
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Re: Pandemic? (Score:2)
A message warning about an earthquake arriving in 4 seconds still has merit... if nothing else, it increases the likelihood that your phone (and for women, your purse) will be in your hand (rather than 7 feet away) when the earthquake strikes, maximizing your likelihood of being able to use it to call for help if you get partially buried under debris (or at least ensuring that you're ready to grab the phone and/or purse a moment later, instead of having to stop & think about it).
Up to 30 minutes to warn of a "dire threat" (Score:2)
It could take up to 30 minutes for the alerts to be transmitted to all devices.
Two questions:
1. Have we flushed broadcast messages THAT far down the architectural memory hole?
2. Who in the world designed a system for this sort of purpose with that sort of potential latency?
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you do realize the cellular texting systems were designed for
meet u 4 lnch
and similar, not a national communication system
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Given that we're several generations down the road both in design and bandwidth, it would be extremely disappointing if "cellular texting systems" (and I presume by that you mean something like SMS) are the mechanism being used for something like this. Did you have a definitive source you forgot to paste in?
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Everything rolls out in batches now. Where did you get the idea that simultaneity is a wanted condition?
I have absolutely no idea where I got the idea that anyone would want to notify everyone in the nation about a nationwide "dire threat" as quickly as humanly possible. You can't be serious.
Up to 30 minutes to distribute to hundreds of millions is excellent scalability.
Says who? Compared to what? Under what set of assumptions? You can't be serious.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
Yup, you're not serious.
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This is a test... crooked Hillary.. no collusion.. (Score:2)
I can opt out (Score:2)
Trump's new Twitter? (Score:2)
Awaiting Trump's first abuse of this system in five.. four.. three.. two.. one....
Hypnotoad (Score:2)
All Hail Hypnotoad.
You must comply with his message at 11:18 PDT.
This is the POTUS, and Hypnotoad is the pOnOs (Score:2)
PDT? That's the time zone for Redmond, Washington, right? If "Hypnotoad" is in any way related to Stormy Daniels' nickname for the President's intimate body part [slate.com], then I can think of one company in Redmond that won't be impressed. And it isn't Microsoft.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
What happens when the system gets hacked? (Score:3)
This system had better be secure, because how much chaos could be achieved by 'bad actor' if they were able to broadcast a fake message (like an impending nuclear strike)? I suppose it'll keep the NK and Russian hackers busy for a while...
Worth? (Score:2)
I fear this system will cause more problems than it's worth.
In protest ... (Score:2)
... I'm going dark at that time.
just follow the sound (Score:3)
wonder how many people will be fired today for sneaking in phones into their workplace.
wonder how many people will run off the road because some high pitch sound startled them while driving.
wonder how many people will drop their phone because they were scared silly by a high pitch sound.
it is going to get interesting...they really did not do a good job advertising the test.
And Done (Score:2)
That was strangely freakin' cool.
MESSAGE RECEIVED! (Score:2)
KILL ALL HUMANS
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I've uninstalled twitter because I didn't want to have to read presidential tweets and now this.
Wireless Emergency Alert System - Covfefe
If it bothers you that much, turn your phone off for a few minutes- it's not like they haven't been warning us about this for weeks,
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Yep. Phones are just like radios. If yours is switched off when this is sent then you'll never see it.
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Sarcasm noted. But you missed the point. One metric that will be measured is how quickly the message is received, and if a bunch of people turn off their phones, this metric will be skewed towards a longer delay. This will send a big "screw you" message to... somebody.
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That's the same argument spammers came up with years ago and continue to use to this day. Fuck that.
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That's the same argument spammers came up with years ago and continue to use to this day. Fuck that.
It's one message years after this was created and advertised that it would happen weeks in advance. It's really not that big a deal.
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The Amber Alert system already gets abused all the time, why wouldn't this be abused as well?
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The Amber Alert system already gets abused all the time, why wouldn't this be abused as well?
That probably depends on where you are. I don't feel like the Amber Alert system is abused where I am. I've probably had four amber alerts in the last year.
As for, will this be abused: hasn't this been in place since Obama era- and this is the very first test of it? So far it doesn't look like it is being abused. Maybe that will change... I will worry about it when that happens.
I'm not a fan of Trump, but there is no indication this will become his "new twitter". An alert system that can warn of a na
Re: Twitter upgrade? (Score:2)
Actually this is the first I've heard of it. If only we had some way to send a message to every phone in the country to inform us about the test...
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You had to read presidential tweets?
I can see signing up for it, perhaps twitter even turning it on by default for some misguided reason akin to emergency messages, but not that you couldn't turn off tracking of it!
Re:Please tell me this has to run through committe (Score:5, Insightful)
If the president is able to use this at his discretion, without supervision, we all need to prepare ourselves for a whole lot of pain. That orange buffoon won't be able to resist the urge to constantly inundate all cell phone users with an endless stream of what he deems "important information" but is really just a constant spouting of nonsense.
You realize this is a test of an existing system, right? The alerts have been around on radio and TV going back to before most of us were born and on cell phones since 2013.