Public emergency alert - being sent to your phone
Discussion
Countdown said:
Getragdogleg said:
Sway said:
So all the fears of it's misuse were bull.
Good decision making at that time of the morning, no need to send out a retrospective alert for something over, etc.
Along with the lack of forecast alerts due to hot weather, it's a bad week for critics of the system.
Lets hope its always a bad week for critics of the system and the scope creep some of us are mindful of never happens, that way you get to be happy because you were right and those of us who suspect it could be used to warn us of pretty minor or unnecessary things are happy because its not being used to tell us about minor or unnecessary things.Good decision making at that time of the morning, no need to send out a retrospective alert for something over, etc.
Along with the lack of forecast alerts due to hot weather, it's a bad week for critics of the system.
Win win.
Lets come back in few years time and review this topic though, the scope creep rarely turns up straight away and we are in the early days.
"Ah yes, just because there's no evidence of the Guv'mint doing something evil NOW, doesn't mean that they won't do something evil in the future, and THEN you'll be sorry!!"
ks sake, there is no being reasonable about it with someone who wants an argument is there ?Its not "evil" I'm wary of in this situation, its state creep nannying I'm cautious of but you want a conspiracy theory to debunk to make you feel better about your world view, I get it, your not having that argument with me though because I'm not what you want me to be.
On the news earlier, July 20 caught end of a mention of a lioness loose in Berlin, so they sent out an emergency alert to stay indoors, so came in handy then.
https://news.sky.com/story/suspected-lioness-on-th...
https://news.sky.com/story/suspected-lioness-on-th...
EmailAddress said:
madbadger said:
If I got an alert saying there was a lion wandering about I would definitely think someone was taking the piss and ignore it. 
I'd also be out in the car having a look!https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/22/whit...
https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
xx99xx said:
https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
You can't get a moment's peace from all these alerts The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
We've got a test alert coming up soon here in NZ, I think it'll be the first one I've had (where I live) in at least 18 months.
In my town the river alerts were few and far between and useful for the ‘brilliant’ river near its source/s as it could get high very quickly.
However the alert level was recalibrated about 1m lower because one or two properties might get flooded at that level, and every time it rained I’d get myriad alerts, texts, phone calls (all initially set up because it genuinely was useful)
So I unsubscribed from them all.
It’s utter st dreamt up by more money/time on hands/“tech can do this these days so let’s do it” types.
More than anything it’ll lead to more apathy as it’ll be used for increasingly lame reasons.
Ie, pensions. Boring. Auto-enrolment, great. Everyone is building a DC pension unless they opt out.
But even less engagement now.
So good, but ultimately bad as the engagement is the true fix, not just dull apathy.
However the alert level was recalibrated about 1m lower because one or two properties might get flooded at that level, and every time it rained I’d get myriad alerts, texts, phone calls (all initially set up because it genuinely was useful)
So I unsubscribed from them all.
It’s utter s
t dreamt up by more money/time on hands/“tech can do this these days so let’s do it” types.More than anything it’ll lead to more apathy as it’ll be used for increasingly lame reasons.
Ie, pensions. Boring. Auto-enrolment, great. Everyone is building a DC pension unless they opt out.
But even less engagement now.
So good, but ultimately bad as the engagement is the true fix, not just dull apathy.
Tony Starks said:
xx99xx said:
https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
You can't get a moment's peace from all these alerts The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
We've got a test alert coming up soon here in NZ, I think it'll be the first one I've had (where I live) in at least 18 months.
Mr Whippy said:
In my town the river alerts were few and far between and useful for the ‘brilliant’ river near its source/s as it could get high very quickly.
However the alert level was recalibrated about 1m lower because one or two properties might get flooded at that level, and every time it rained I’d get myriad alerts, texts, phone calls (all initially set up because it genuinely was useful)
So I unsubscribed from them all.
It’s utter st dreamt up by more money/time on hands/“tech can do this these days so let’s do it” types.
More than anything it’ll lead to more apathy as it’ll be used for increasingly lame reasons.
Ie, pensions. Boring. Auto-enrolment, great. Everyone is building a DC pension unless they opt out.
But even less engagement now.
So good, but ultimately bad as the engagement is the true fix, not just dull apathy.
Ok, but you're refering to flood warnings, not emergency alerts.However the alert level was recalibrated about 1m lower because one or two properties might get flooded at that level, and every time it rained I’d get myriad alerts, texts, phone calls (all initially set up because it genuinely was useful)
So I unsubscribed from them all.
It’s utter s
t dreamt up by more money/time on hands/“tech can do this these days so let’s do it” types.More than anything it’ll lead to more apathy as it’ll be used for increasingly lame reasons.
Ie, pensions. Boring. Auto-enrolment, great. Everyone is building a DC pension unless they opt out.
But even less engagement now.
So good, but ultimately bad as the engagement is the true fix, not just dull apathy.
Used for increasingly lame reasons? It's been used twice since April 2023.
The one time this idea would have been of real use was when 16000 people had to be informed pretty quickly that they should boil their water with immediate effect. Instead South West Water put leaflets through peoples doors 2 days after the first hospital admission.
It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
21TonyK said:
The one time this idea would have been of real use was when 16000 people had to be informed pretty quickly that they should boil their water with immediate effect. Instead South West Water put leaflets through peoples doors 2 days after the first hospital admission.
It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
Agree.It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
CoolHands said:
vaud said:
Gazzab said:
Can anyone think of a real uk disaster in the last 20 years or so where this would have been useful and would have saved lives ie people could have been alerted and avoided death?
Several regional ones. And go back to 1987 the hurricane that the news said wasn't happening.There are plenty of scenarios at a city or regional level where this system makes sense. Which is also why lots of other countries already have them.
xx99xx said:
https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
Is that one of the alerts we were warned we were going to be relentlessly bombarded with or is that one of the mandatory alerts you had to voluntarily sign up to before you'd be sent them?The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
Nudge nudge nudge
bhstewie said:
hstewie said:xx99xx said:
https://www.gov.uk/alerts/past-alerts
The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
Is that one of the alerts we were warned we were going to be relentlessly bombarded with or is that one of the mandatory alerts you had to voluntarily sign up to before you'd be sent them?The emergency alerts system was used for the 2nd time this week, since it went live last year.
Nudge nudge nudge
Oh and you have to turn the alerts off not sign up as I understand it. I get why you would not see the distinction though.
Edited by Vanden Saab on Sunday 26th May 08:07
21TonyK said:
The one time this idea would have been of real use was when 16000 people had to be informed pretty quickly that they should boil their water with immediate effect. Instead South West Water put leaflets through peoples doors 2 days after the first hospital admission.
It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
Very good point!It was a national headline before some locals knew what they should be doing.
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