AT&T to Send Emergency Alerts to U.S. iPhone 4S/5 Owners [Update: iPhone 4 Users Also Included]

[Mebsat]

The reasonableness of this particular software update is not the issue.

While the hardware is yours, the software is licensed from Apple and you're using public radio spectrum in a federally overseen land. They can do what they please to the device.

Under this theory then, the government can install whatever software it wants on my hardware if it accesses the "public" airwaves.
But that is not really the case.

[It's important to note that ATT is doing this voluntarily, so it not directly being done by the government at this time. However, the precedent is dangerous.]

The real questions to ponder are:
1) Is the authorization to do this limited enough under the WARN Act (which gave the government the authority)?

2) Now that they can induce our carriers to automatically install software on our devices for a reasonable purpose, will we simply be conditioned to this?

The clear public purpose and the ability to target geographic areas make this alert system a good use of technology and hard to criticize. And this is exactly why it needs to be noted repeatedly that this is an exception, empowered by specific legislation for a specific purpose.

By the way, reminding your legislators of this does not make you a conspiracy theorist, it makes you a citizen.

 

[renewed]

Presidential Alerts are mandatory?

DING DING DING

"Tune in at 11pmEST/10pmCST to see ME your prezzzy dizzy on SNL for a world crisis solving good time!"

DING DING DING

 

[danahn17]

But you can't disable the presidential alerts. That's what I already noted, and that what I'm hoping a tweak will be able to block. If the gob'ment can force information onto your phone how do we know they aren't also taking information?

I'm pretty sure that if the government is taking information from you, turning off the presidential alerts on your iPhone wouldn't stop them from doing so....

 

[3282868]

until you need a service done with obamacare, and they go back and see that you werent living your life according to their standards, and you get denied and handed a pill

Lord, this is so dramatic and incorrect. As a type 1 diabetic since 12, and having lived in the U.K. now in the U.S. as a dual citizen, I have to laugh at all this rhetoric that Pres. Obama is "socialist", "evil", "communist" in healthcare or in general.

1. This is the first time we have a health care bill of rights. In the late 90's John McCain and Ted Kennedy worked together to establish such bill of rights and failed. This recent passing was a bipartisan endeavor.
2. I've been paying ~$300-400/month to Blue Cross Blue Shield Excellus, I'm now 36 and have no signs of diabetic complications. I test ~20 times/day, insulin when needed, exercise, lift, etc. These should LOWER my premiums, yet they have gone up.
3. Pre-existing Conditions have been eliminated. That speaks for itself.
and much more

The rhetoric about socialized healthcare is frustrating. Roughly 51% of every tax dollar is budgeted for our military, that's more than other nations, we outspend North Korea 75 to 1. This article breaks down spending versus the world as of April, 2013. Cut back the bloated military budget, restructure the private sect by eliminating administration costs that account for ~70% of our healthcare, reign in lobbyists and establish a working system. Other first world nations budget properly to afford universal healthcare, we don't wait hours/weeks for serious health issues and live longer, better. I spend 10's of thousands on insurance and diabetic supplies in the U.S., I don't in the U.K. and gladly pay the taxes as it saves me long term. A multi-trillion dollar/year healthcare system and its lobbyists have used rhetoric and fear tactics to get American's on their side, without realizing they are shooting themselves in the foot. Valid studies have shown the U.S. ranks well below or last in healthcare:

Despite having the most expensive health care system, the United States ranks last overall compared to six other industrialized countries—Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—on measures of health system performance in five areas: quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report.

New Health Rankings: Of 17 Nations, U.S. Is Dead Last

Read what our POTUS has done since in office, you may be surprised:

- Repeal of DADT
- Developed stimulus package, which includes approx. $18 billion for non defense scientific research and development
- Ended Bush administration's CIA program of 'enhanced interrogation methods' by requiring that the Army field manual be used as the guide for terrorism interrogations
- Established Credit Card Bill of Rights, preventing credit card companies from imposing arbitrary rate increases on customers
- Tax cuts for up to 3.5 million small businesses to help pay for employee health care coverage
- Expansion of Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level
- Require health insurance plans to disclose how much of the premium actually goes to patient care

Those certainly sound "Marxist" and "un-American", don't they? Find out some more facts:

What the **** has Obama Done So Far

Pres. Obama is not a communist, marxist, etc. Pres. GWB had more social welfare programs than Pres. Obama and Pres. Clinton. The U.S. has been a SOCIALIZED DEMOCRACY for a long time. Our teachers, civil servants, police force, firemen, military, army - heck, even the NFL (gotta think about that one) are established systems. A SOCIALIZED DEMOCRACY IS NOT COMMUNISM. Keep repeating that to yourself while studying Political Science. You will learn the differences and understand that this notion we are headed to a "1984" is ludicrous.

 

[rwilliams]

I have received the update, so I have the latest Carrier software, version 14.1. Just restarted my phone, too: no dice.

Same here, my man. I'm jailbroken, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

And man, did this thread ever veer off track.

 

[danahn17]

I'm not derailing the thread or getting into a more long winded comment.

ummmm.... I think you just did.

IBTL?

 

[firewood]

Public radio spectrum ...

That's right. But your mobile phone transmits radio signals that cross other people's property as well as public roads, and thus can interfere with what other people and the government want to do using that same radio spectrum on or over their property. Thus lots of government regulations allowing and preventing the use of such radio transmitters as are contained in a cellular phone.

Just put your iPhone in Airplane mode, and you won't be using this shared electromagnetic airspace, and thus won't get any notifications, notifications which may or may not be part of the regulations required for sharing this portion of the spectrum with the general public.

 

[3282868]

ummmm.... I think you just did.

IBTL?

Trying to cut it down, I get irritated when people throw around misinformation. If the mod's believe his comment was IBTL and thus mine, they'll remove 'em. If not, that's all I need to write. It's hard to address such comments without getting into it as most comment that I don't have sources, etc. Cutting it down now, just boils my blood.

There, deleted half of it.

 

[Elaine11]

Same here, my man. I'm jailbroken, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

And man, did this thread ever veer off track.

My iPad just got updated, restarted and nada. My iPhone has not gotten an update yet and neither are jailbroken.

 

[portishead]

until you need a service done with obamacare, and they go back and see that you werent living your life according to their standards, and you get denied and handed a pill

Take off the tinfoil.

 

[danahn17]

Trying to cut it down, I get irritated when people throw around misinformation. If the mod's believe his comment was IBTL and thus mine, they'll remove 'em. If not, that's all I need to write. It's hard to address such comments without getting into it as most comment that I don't have sources, etc. Cutting it down now, just boils my blood.

There, deleted half of it.

I think it got longer

 

[3282868]

I think it got longer

lol I'm trying, but I think it's time to back awaaay from my keyboard.

On topic, I like the amber alerts and important warnings in your respective area. My car's navigation has weather alerts that come in handy for rerouting or pulling over when severe enough. Course I have to use Sirius/XM's Nav + Traffic package, but it's well worth it.

 

[gotluck]

Same here, my man. I'm jailbroken, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.

And man, did this thread ever veer off track.

Hmm my jailbroken 4 got the update as soon as I went to settings -> about.
I was on WiFi if that matters.
Version 14.1 carrier software.

 

[wordoflife]

Now... why is it just for 4S/5 owners?

 

[DaveTheRave]

Will this come in as a regular text message, or will it be a different kind of popup or alert?

 

[3282868]

Will this come in as a regular text message, or will it be a different kind of popup or alert?

Hmmm, good question. I thought text's but if it's an emergency alerts would make sense. Maybe both?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

The U.S. has been a SOCIALIZED DEMOCRACY since 1776....

1) The Articles of Confederation (1777) specifically stated the United States was not a sovereign nation; that each state was independent, unified only in "mutual friendship" for the common defense of liberty and general welfare (welfare in the 18th century of the use of the word as applied to governments).

2) The Constitution (1788) set up a federal constitutional republic form of government. No where in the Constitution is socialized democracy called for either directly or by implication. There were very few social safety net programs offered by the U.S. government until the late 1800s.

3) Nothing in the Bill of Rights or Amendments suggests citizens have a right to anything other than freedom from government oppression (speech, religion, search and seizure, double jeopardy, right to vote, wrongful gov't taking, etc.)

So I'm entirely unclear why you think the U.S. government was established as a Social Democracy, or has an SD tradition. It's only been the last 100 or so years where the gov't safety net has evolved.


As to the emergency alerts as issue, I don't understand why anyone would be up in arms about it. It seems very reasonable and non-intrusive to me. It's no different than the broadcast alert system.

 

[DaveTheRave]

Hmmm, good question. I thought text's but if it's an emergency alerts would make sense. Maybe both?

My wife has an iphone 5 on Verizon. Last year we were in Manhattan the day before Hurricane Sandy and her phone received several alerts (not texts) telling us to get out of flood zones A, B, etc. so maybe ATT will do it same way. A regular text is too easy to ignore sometimes.

 

[Intell]

Under this theory then, the government can install whatever software it wants on my hardware if it accesses the "public" airwaves.
But that is not really the case.

The US government already has the ability to dictate what software gets installed on your devices, they rarely exercise it. When it does get exercised it's mostly in the form of wiretaps and monitoring software. They'd rather just set up a monitoring post via the FCC's power and monitor your communications. There just isn't anything as private radio frequencies anymore, because of the FCC. Just like there isn't a thing as private airspace anymore, because of the FAA. The closest thing to it would be spectrum used only by government control bodies like the military. While a private company many have general control over a certain swath of the airwaves, they ultimately have to report to the government controlled FCC.

 

[aristobrat]

Will this come in as a regular text message, or will it be a different kind of popup or alert?

They show up as a different type on my Verizon iPhone, ... their own "Emergency Alert" type. I assume they'll show up the same way on AT&T.

Screenshot below shows the difference between what they look like on iOS 7. From what I've seen of my friends iOS 6 devices, that looks the same.

 

[3282868]

My wife has an iphone 5 on Verizon. Last year we were in Manhattan the day before Hurricane Sandy and her phone received several alerts (not texts) telling us to get out of flood zones A, B, etc. so maybe ATT will do it same way. A regular text is too easy to ignore sometimes.

They show up as a different type on my Verizon iPhone, ... their own "Emergency Alert" type. I assume they'll show up the same way on AT&T.

Screenshot below shows the difference between what they look like on iOS 7. From what I've seen of my friends iOS 6 devices, that looks the same.

Didn't know AT&T already supported this in iOS. Running iOS 7 beta 1 on my iPhone 5, haven't seen it yet so thanks for the post/image. The iPhone 4 will receive iOS 7, so it can't be based on the software. Makes me wonder why only the 4S/5 will qualify.

 

[donutbagel]

But you can't disable the presidential alerts. That's what I already noted, and that what I'm hoping a tweak will be able to block. If the gob'ment can force information onto your phone how do we know they aren't also taking information?

Disabling the government sending information using a Cydia tweak would not disable the government taking information.

 

[3282868]

snip
As to the emergency alerts as issue, I don't understand why anyone would be up in arms about it. It seems very reasonable and non-intrusive to me. It's no different than the broadcast alert system.

Without wanting to continue thus derailing the thread, I removed that small reference to avoid splitting hairs and moved on.

As for your second point, I agree. It is very beneficial, especially in regard to Amber alerts and storm warnings. The quicker and more efficient the information, the better the chance at helping.

 

[racer1441]

Looks like my next iPhone will be a iPod touch. I don't want weather alerts, amber alerts, or what ever any crook in the White House wants to say.

 

[Mebsat]

The US government already has the ability to dictate what software gets installed on your devices, they rarely exercise it. When it does get exercised it's mostly in the form of wiretaps and monitoring software. They'd rather just set up a monitoring post via the FCC's power and monitor your communications. There just isn't anything as private radio frequencies anymore, because of the FCC. Just like there isn't a thing as private airspace anymore, because of the FAA. The closest thing to it would be spectrum used only by government control bodies like the military. While a private company many have general control over a certain swath of the airwaves, they ultimately have to report to the government controlled FCC.

I think it makes sense to distinguish between what you describe here (a court-ordered/warrant type situation) and installing software en masse onto the devices of a presumably non-targeted population.

I realize recent news may make this distinction seem somewhat unrealistic, but when can the government install software onto private property when the owner is not the subject of an investigation?