Barack Obama to be able to text terror warnings to all US phones

The Telegraph ^ | 5/10/2011 | Alex Spillius

[bruinbirdman]

From next year, new phones and other hand-held devices will be required to be fitted with special chips to receive the alerts, which will also be sent by state and local authorities. Users will be able to opt out of every type of alert except those from the president, said the Federal Communications Commission.

The system will include alerts about missing children and will supersede all other phone traffic to avoid delays.

Mr Obama, who has been dubbed the "texter-in-chief" thanks to his devotion to his BlackBerry and heavy use of text messages during his 2008 campaign, may face criticism from libertarians for the compulsory nature of the presidential alerts.

But officials see the system, known as Personal Localized Alerting Network, or Plan, as a logical progression from alerting the public via radio and television.

"The lesson that was reinforced on 9/11 was the importance of getting clear and accurate information to the public during a crisis," said Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, where the scheme will be deployed first next year. It will then move to Washington and most other large cities.

He called the alerts a "quantum leap forward in using

[meyer]

I wonder - can a person still go to Wally World and buy a cell phone anonymously with cash along with the minutes for it, or do they demand your name at the time of purchase?

[ransomnote]

Yes...and to request campaign donations in a whining voice....