Public emergency alert - being sent to your phone
Discussion
CrutyRammers said:
Not new is it, they've been able to broadcast alerts over the landline network since the 1950s IIRC. Not to mention TV and radio.
It doesn't seem an unreasonable bit of infrastructure to have in place, particularly since control remains with the end user.
The landline one needed specific receivers though, we had one when I was a kid. Not exactly pocket sized, the first one roughly a 1 foot cube, and the second one a bit narrower but longer It doesn't seem an unreasonable bit of infrastructure to have in place, particularly since control remains with the end user.
We were then supposed to spend our last 3 minutes getting the siren out of the garage and winding the handle
I am stunned to be reading so many replies by complete and total idiots. Perhaps I should not be in NP&E.
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
over_the_hill said:
How selective will it be ?
Warnings of potential floods in Inverness are not that relevant if you live in Croydon.
It’s of course area selective based on the nature of the notification, and the area affected. For example, a flood warning, bomb threats, terrorist activity, etc.Warnings of potential floods in Inverness are not that relevant if you live in Croydon.
Most I’ve seen where I live in the US are for tornado warnings, flash floods, child abductions, etc.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Not a bad thing IMO as long as its not abused. It can be useful to know certain things but yeah its got to be used sensibly otherwise its going to stray into boy who cried wolf terrirtory.
I've been to a few countries that have this. The last was South Korea. Though they did put through regular "EMERGENCY!" alerts for a handful of covid cases in a city populated by millions. I mean a few hundred cases isn't even a rounding error. Not sure it warranted rather obnoxiously loud alerts! However, they also had ones alerting you to missing people being sighted, criminals on the loose etc. Whilst I was there I had 2 missing persons alerts and then I got one about a stabbing. I mean that kinda thing is useful to know.
Disagree, it's not useful to know - it biases the agenda towards bad things, and makes us risk adverse, which is in general terms, a BAD THING.I've been to a few countries that have this. The last was South Korea. Though they did put through regular "EMERGENCY!" alerts for a handful of covid cases in a city populated by millions. I mean a few hundred cases isn't even a rounding error. Not sure it warranted rather obnoxiously loud alerts! However, they also had ones alerting you to missing people being sighted, criminals on the loose etc. Whilst I was there I had 2 missing persons alerts and then I got one about a stabbing. I mean that kinda thing is useful to know.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 20th March 10:14
People will loose all sense of proportion.
surveyor said:
I am stunned to be reading so many replies by complete and total idiots. Perhaps I should not be in NP&E.
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
Works so well for the television and the gutter press! Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
surveyor said:
I am stunned to be reading so many replies by complete and total idiots. Perhaps I should not be in NP&E.
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
It must be so wonderful not to be an idiot like your goodself - how does one go about it, it is innate or must it be learned? Does the ability to be able to adjudge another persons intellect on an anonymous internet motoring forum come as standard or is that something that only comes with experiential wisdom?Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
I think these can be useful, but then I've recently been having air raid warning alerts from my girlfriends phone while watching a movie at home in London, when the air raid is actually where she lives in Lviv, Ukraine. Cooled the ardour a bit, she has since turned it down at least. Knowing our useless leaders though, the UK system will be most likely be abused.
Shar2 said:
I think these can be useful, but then I've recently been having air raid warning alerts from my girlfriends phone while watching a movie at home in London, when the air raid is actually where she lives in Lviv, Ukraine. Cooled the ardour a bit, she has since turned it down at least. Knowing our useless leaders though, the UK system will be most likely be abused.
I suspect it will.I think the expression is dumbing down
Lotobear said:
surveyor said:
I am stunned to be reading so many replies by complete and total idiots. Perhaps I should not be in NP&E.
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
It must be so wonderful not to be an idiot like your goodself - how does one go about it, it is innate or must it be learned? Does the ability to be able to adjudge another persons intellect on an anonymous internet motoring forum come as standard or is that something that only comes with experiential wisdom?Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
surveyor said:
I am stunned to be reading so many replies by complete and total idiots. Perhaps I should not be in NP&E.
Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
Quite.Is there potential to bring valuable information to the general public? Yep.
Could the government perhaps overuse the system? Yep.
What happens if it annoys you? Turn it off. What happens if it does not and you leave it switched on? Absolutely nothing.
Is it a big deal? Nope!
Easy way and hard way.
Some people always do things the hard way.
[cynical] It will be monumentally expensive, offer little value for money (except for the company that gets the contract to run it) and and be open for mission creep and nudge opportunities. On the first proper hot day in the summer it'll be "Climate Change Incident - Stay Home!" [/cynical]
Couldn't they spend the money on something more useful like sorting out the potholes in the roads?
Couldn't they spend the money on something more useful like sorting out the potholes in the roads?
bearman68 said:
Disagree, it's not useful to know - it biases the agenda towards bad things, and makes us risk adverse, which is in general terms, a BAD THING.
People will loose all sense of proportion.
I'll give you a direct example.People will loose all sense of proportion.
In Florida for work last summer. Typical 'every afternoon' thunderstorms predicted.
In meeting room, about to walk between buildings - all the phones in the room went off. Some thunderstorm alert.
Went to leave the building - huge flash as it was hit by lightning. Checked the 'lightning map' website thingy, and over 30 strikes in a quarter mile radius.
Quite glad I didn't go out, I thought I might just get a bit soggy.
Sway said:
bearman68 said:
Disagree, it's not useful to know - it biases the agenda towards bad things, and makes us risk adverse, which is in general terms, a BAD THING.
People will loose all sense of proportion.
I'll give you a direct example.People will loose all sense of proportion.
In Florida for work last summer. Typical 'every afternoon' thunderstorms predicted.
In meeting room, about to walk between buildings - all the phones in the room went off. Some thunderstorm alert.
Went to leave the building - huge flash as it was hit by lightning. Checked the 'lightning map' website thingy, and over 30 strikes in a quarter mile radius.
Quite glad I didn't go out, I thought I might just get a bit soggy.
I’m 60, i’ve not once been in danger walking between buildings due to the weather !
Turned it off ..
. There does not appear to be a setting to disable these alerts so maybe I won't get one. monkfish1 said:
Dave. said:
monkfish1 said:
Any chance someone can enlighten me on how to turn this meaningless drivel off?
Android phone. Gobe to settings,notifications. Im not seeing anything relevant?
Just search settings for emergency alerts Android phone. Gobe to settings,notifications. Im not seeing anything relevant?
Anyway, i did, but theres no option to turn it off, just change the length and turn on / off vibrate.
Should look like this if you are...
21TonyK said:
So what happens if your phone is so old (iphone 6) that it does have a setting for this? are you doomed?
Not really. Following the path set out earlier on this thread [settings>notifications/emergency alerts] I’ve switched off Severe Alerts 
on the OH’s 6 and just left Extreme Alerts 
in case Putin turns nasty(er).Can’t find anything similar on any Android phone here.
Had these here and in many cities during the protests in 2020 when they enacted curfews....not to mention covid alerts too.
A loud obnoxious electronic screeching tone like this one accompanies the pop up on the screen, even when it's in silent mode (the first one was sent out when many people were sleeping) or you are using the phone.
Quickly toggled to off, and there are settings for different types of alerts here.
A loud obnoxious electronic screeching tone like this one accompanies the pop up on the screen, even when it's in silent mode (the first one was sent out when many people were sleeping) or you are using the phone.
Quickly toggled to off, and there are settings for different types of alerts here.
Edited by GCH on Monday 20th March 20:20
Dogwatch said:
21TonyK said:
So what happens if your phone is so old (iphone 6) that it does have a setting for this? are you doomed?
Not really. Following the path set out earlier on this thread [settings>notifications/emergency alerts] I’ve switched off Severe Alerts on the OH’s 6 and just left Extreme Alerts in case Putin turns nasty(er).Can’t find anything similar on any Android phone here.
Messages - 3 dots -settings- emergency alert settings
Shar2 said:
I think these can be useful, but then I've recently been having air raid warning alerts from my girlfriends phone while watching a movie at home in London, when the air raid is actually where she lives in Lviv, Ukraine. Cooled the ardour a bit, she has since turned it down at least. Knowing our useless leaders though, the UK system will be most likely be abused.
Worth noting that the Ukraine alerts are driven by an app where you chose which region/municipality/town (you can chose level of granularity) you want alerts for. It's not location-based hence receiving alerts outwith Ukraine.App Store links for anyone who wants to download the app on iOS/Android btw.
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/id1611955391
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....
There's a test region that will trigger the air raid alert followed shortly afterwards by the All Clear (need to have Critical Alerts (iOS)/Emergency Alerts (Android) enabled but nearly all regions have daily alerts due to Russian attacks.
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