Here’s the headline (and link): “National Emergency Alert System Set To Launch In NYC”

On the face of it, it seems like a good idea.

Here are some key points:

• It is a new national alert system. It will alert people to emergencies on their cell phones.
• “Presidential and local emergency messages as well as Amber Alerts” will be sent out to cell phones. These phones must have certain software and chipsets to receive these messages, so I suspect older phones may not be eligible.
• FEMA and the FCC, the system would also be used to notify people about terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Of course, being FEMA, that may mean we hear about those things a week or two after the event.

So, sounds like a good idea.

Except, of course, if you have to pay for those text messages.

And, how do they work? Will notice of a natural disaster in, say, California, go out to everyone nationwide? Or just people in California? What if you’re from New York, but visiting California? Will you get the notice? Or, if you’re in New York but from California?

Wouldn’t it be easier to just check Twitter?

Oh, and get this: “Verizon and AT&T, the nation’s largest cell phone carriers, are already on board. Consumers would be able to opt out of all but those presidential messages.”

Yeah, you know, I might want to be notified of local emergencies or terrorist attacks, but I’m pretty sure presidential messages are pretty low on my list of things I’d like to receive. That’s the bit most people would be likely to opt-out of.

Which is probably why they are making sure you cannot.

Whatever happened to choice? If it’s my cell phone, shouldn’t I be able to decide what messages I will receive on it?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 11:30 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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