Or is that not an option?
Posted on 05/10/2011 7:00:22 AM PDT by ctdonath2
A new national alert system is set to begin in New York City that will alert the public to emergencies via cell phones.
Presidential and local emergency messages as well as Amber Alerts would appear on cell phones equipped with special chips and software.
(Excerpt) Read more at newyork.cbslocal.com ...
Or is that not an option?
Can’t opt out of the “Presidential” messages. Lesser messages, yes you can opt out.
I’ll wait until the paranoia clears but this may not be a horrible thing. The current national emergency system is woefully inadequate. I know for me in the days of Tivo’s and iPod/iPhones I rarely listen to live broadcasts in the car or at home. National emergency alerts to my phone (which is always with me) based on proximity to a tower isn’t bad. Now if it’s messages like “This is Obama go vote for me!”. Then this is BS.
Figures. Those would be the exact messages I would have no desire to receive (from any president btw).
He’s going to call us while we’re driving.
He’s going to text us while we’re driving.
I can’t imagine what a “presidential emergency message” would be.
Local authorities have jurisdiction, not the feds. I’m imagining that we still have a constitution and a republic, though. This will reinforce the concepts of president-as-king, “I’m running the country” thinking.
16 It compelled everyone -- small and great alike, rich and poor, slave and citizen -- to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead,
17 and made it illegal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
18 There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number 666.
If it’s limited to truly huge/important/urgent messages, like “SF just got nuked”, and costs are minimal then fine.
But such urgency is rare indeed, and in this hyper-info-connected email/news-crawl/cellphone/tweet/Drudge/etc age there is little need for the President to speak to EVERYONE RIGHT NOW to get a message out.
The more I think about it, the more I can’t think of a legitimate use for this. Great propaganda tool, but even the obvious biggies cannot be well served by such a message. I’m open to theories/suggestions; the very nature of the President delivering the message means it will be delayed ‘til after other news outlets move first, and will be softened to focus on the interests of the government instead of the individual.
The ensuing conspiracy theories will be fun though. Popcorn?
He’s going to call us while we’re driving.
He’s going to text us while we’re driving.
We need to examine the liability here...
That’s the kicker: it should be limited to usage so rare that many will question the expense, so to justify it far more messages of minor importance will be transmitted, annoying millions who will shut off or otherwise dismiss such alerts.
Analogy: how many “Civil Defense” locations were allocated and stocked? how many still exist to any viable degree? same statistics.
HA!
I have no problem with an emergency alert system. Most college campuses use similar networks to notify their populace of local emergencies, and they work well.
But I don’t want any messages whatsoever from Barry0, or from any other politician.
Who is going to pay the messaging fees?
Mayor Bloomers is doing a little dance. NY is going to be the test market.
It’s a good place to start since NYC has such light traffic it wouldn’t be a distraction at all.
You might want to change the wording on your graphic to EVERY minute, instead of VERY minute.... ;)
In historical retrospect, this is (or should be) just a variation of the ongoing attempts at “Civil Defense” notification infrastructure. Core concept is a good idea, just fraught with standard gov’t screw-ups and political abuse.
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