FCC Votes to Improve Emergency Smartphone Alerts With Longer Character Limits, Link Support

[CarlJ]

Yeah it's pretty retarded, and the only settings are "WAKE UP NOW NUCLEAR ATTACK" loud or OFF. Oh well, off it is...

I wouldn't mind the loudness of the messages if they weren't mostly... Amber Alerts for someone 200 miles away. Like, okay, sure, there's a 0.1% chance that car might drive here - do you also alert every city they might fly to? Where does it stop? If someone was just kidnapped, you want everyone within, say, 25 miles to be on the lookout. If you get people used to receiving alerts that are rarely relevant to them, they'll get in the habit of ignoring them. That said, I haven't done anything to turn them off on my phone.

Reminds me of the official state-controlled roadside message signs, that were supposed to only be for warning about exceptional driving-related conditions, that now say things like "there's a drought, conserve water" - yes, that's good to know (as if it wasn't obvious), but did you, the folks in charge of road safety, really think that having me divert my attention from driving to read that message about water conservation was somehow making driving safer? (Yeah, it's the agencies involved getting bit by the "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" bug - thinking it'd be a shame if their new toy wasn't getting used - when it'd be better if showed nothing, or perhaps something very quick to parse, like a big check mark, if there wasn't an exceptional driving-related condition to report, so people would know that reading it really was important if/when some message was displayed.)

On a related note, I have an app on my phone (QuakeFeed) set up to alert on any earthquakes nearby, or large ones anywhere in the world. Partly because I live in California, but also just because it's interesting - it makes a non-intrusive but distinct alert noise that works quite well. I tend to know about major quakes a bit before the major news sources report them.

 

[Tech198]

This seems good.

 

[Fidget08]

Considering these messages have the potential to save lives I say good. People that turn these messages off are selfish.

 

[freezelighter]

I want that iOS again.. like on screenshot..
Not the flat color hiroshima we got with iOS 7 and after...

 

[nsayer]

You stopped too soon. You are right--you do have to think about it "for more than a minute and a half." You don't understand the program. The Amber Alert program is not designed for you to run outside and get in your car and start looking for a suspect who took a child. It is to alert people who are already on the road or who might be out and about later and recognize a car's description, etc. You also complain that it was "50 miles away" from your business meeting. Realize that it is a judgment call, but when someone kidnaps a child they are likely to go mobile so law enforcement is not going to just send out an alert to the immediate neighborhood.

If you do leave the alerts on, and get the thankfully rare alert that interrupts your day, it might also help to remember the little girl,"Amber" behind the program and realize how successful the program has been in saving children. Amber Hagerman was a little 9-year-old girl who was abducted while riding her bicycle in Arlington, Texas, and was later found murdered. RIP. The Amber Alert program named in her honor has now led to finding 800 abducted children. Here's a link to those success stories that is updated regularly:

http://www.missingkids.com/amber/success

All that said, these programs need to continue to be refined and people should obviously continue to have the choice to mute or turn these off. Hopefully, the Emergency Broadcast alert program will continue to offer more customization as to types of alerts you want, weather, crime, etc., as well method, silent, vibrate, etc., and time of day, etc.

In other words, "think of the children."

Your own link lists perhaps a dozen anecdotes over a roughly two year timespan. That's not very convincing.
[doublepost=1475184656][/doublepost]

Considering these messages have the potential to save lives I say good. People that turn these messages off are selfish.

How many car accidents are caused when people who are driving have their attention suddenly drawn to their phone by this stupidity? I dare say it's likely an order of magnitude more than kids who are rescued by them.

 

[calzon65]

[doublepost=1475187880][/doublepost]

How many car accidents are caused when people who are driving have their attention suddenly drawn to their phone by this stupidity? I dare say it's likely an order of magnitude more than kids who are rescued by them.

Well said!

If I want to turn off these notifications its my prerogative and nobody else's business. I'm so tired of this politically correct garbage and constant intrusions into my privacy in the name of social benefit or second amendment rights ... calls, text messages, notifications, it all continues to pile on. It's like the telecom do-not-disturb list and the jackass politicians that allowed exclusions for so-called charities or political solicitants. There is no respect for unlisted numbers, do-not-call lists, etc.

 

[efktd]

shout out to iOS 6

 

[mijail]

You stopped too soon. You are right--you do have to think about it "for more than a minute and a half." You don't understand the program.
...

... and was later found murdered. RIP. The Amber Alert program named in her honor has now led to finding 800 abducted children. ...

"The Amber Alert system is more effective as theater than as a way to protect children"
http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/20/abducted/?page=1

A shorter summary:
http://www.cracked.com/article_1721...aws-that-dont-work.html#entry-3-article-17216
[doublepost=1475223521][/doublepost]

Those stories are a fantastic little ray of sunshine. Thanks.

But that's the problem: this kind of "solution" seems to be mostly about cheap & easy feel-good, not about real effects.

 

[Ntombi]

I'm kind of fascinated by how many of you are intimating that you receive these alerts often enough to find them annoying. I live in a major city in SoCal, and have gotten one maybe thrice in the last few years.

One time, I was in a large meeting, and it was kind of funny how the large hall suddenly erupted in this loud noise from every cell phone. But it definitely woke us all up! The sound is definitely jarring, but not scary (IMO).

I subscribe to Nixle for location-specific text alerts, and I've gotten far more Amber Alerts, suspect-at-large, etc., for my area through that service in a single month than ever through the federal emergency alert system.

 

[imlynxy]

As long as we can still be able to mute them, they're fine. I hated being woken up at 3AM for a missing person.

I was driving and listening music from iPhone and suddenly a loud alert went on when I was changing a line. I almost **** in my pants. It was an alert about coming thunderstorm. Funny, but thunderstorm never came. I turned off that notification.

 

[Darryl.Jenks]

Considering these messages have the potential to save lives I say good. People that turn these messages off are selfish.

I had switched mine off a while ago, but now that I realize how I've disappointed you I'll get back in line right now. Thank you for helping me see the error of my ways. Now that I've been reformed, I'd even go so far as to say that those who don't have a device capable of receiving these messages are failing their fellow humans, and should run out to comply with your vision of how we should all behave post haste.

If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!

 

[unplugme71]

Welcome to 1993!

 

[GeneralChang]

But that's the problem: this kind of "solution" seems to be mostly about cheap & easy feel-good, not about real effects.

I don't see anything particularly cheap or easy about implementing a system like this as opposed to doing nothing. Besides, if the system had only successfully identified a single kidnapped child in an area the police weren't looking, resulting in their safe return (as opposed to apparently a few hundred), I'd still think it was worth it.

 

[mainstreetmark]

I've had all these turned off for several years now. In the middle of the night, the phone would play some frightening emergency sound at full volume, waking everyone up, only to have it be an Amber Alert for a missing kid 400 miles away. That is hardly an "emergency".

Hey, I'm all for amber alerts, but the implementation is the worst. Why not just a notification? Why does it have to get my attention like I'm batman and ready to jump in the car and drive around town looking for the kid.

If it was a notification, of course i'd leave it on. Of course I would.

 

[C DM]

Welcome to 1993!

Meaning...?

 

[truthertech]

We're supposed to get earthquake alerts via iOS here in Japan, but the feature rarely works. I find the third-party alert apps to be much more accurate and robust.

I don't see anything particularly cheap or easy about implementing a system like this as opposed to doing nothing. Besides, if the system had only successfully identified a single kidnapped child in an area the police weren't looking, resulting in their safe return (as opposed to apparently a few hundred), I'd still think it was worth it.[/QUOTE


It's unfortunate that some people feel the need to discount useful efforts to rescue children to make themselves feel better about their indifference. Indeed, it's far from perfect, but I am sure the parents of the over 800 children rescued would have a different perspective

[doublepost=1475262512][/doublepost]

"The Amber Alert system is more effective as theater than as a way to protect children"
http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/20/abducted/?page=1

A shorter summary:
http://www.cracked.com/article_1721...aws-that-dont-work.html#entry-3-article-17216
[doublepost=1475223521][/doublepost]

But that's the problem: this kind of "solution" seems to be mostly about cheap & easy feel-good, not about real effects.

Well then, I am sure if your child is abducted, you'll tell law enforcement not to put out one of those "cheap and easy, feel good" Amber Alerts. Hopefully, your spouse will have a clearer mind.

 

[deckard666]

[doublepost=1475262512][/doublepost]


Well then, I am sure if your child is abducted, you'll tell law enforcement not to put out one of those "cheap and easy, feel good" Amber Alerts. Hopefully, your spouse will have a clearer mind.

Far more likely to be run over by a driver distracted by this noise than their kid abducted frankly....

 

[Mackie924]

Holy hell. Some of the complaining in this thread is absurd. Just tuen off the notifications if they're so intrusive in your life and be one with it.

 

[C DM]

Holy hell. Some of the complaining in this thread is absurd. Just tuen off the notifications if they're so intrusive in your life and be one with it.

Or, you know, perhaps talk about ways that they could be improved in a place that is meant for discussions?

 

[Ohples]

I just had one of these alerts made me jump out of bed this morning!
Flash flood warning alert...

The question is, why only including Spanish?

My guess is they will probably start with Spainish and eventually if that works out include more and more languages.

 

[truthertech]

Far more likely to be run over by a driver distracted by this noise than their kid abducted frankly....

We hear your pain and bitterness. Whatever caused it, here's hoping you heal and please get some help as it has really taken over your life.

 

[B4U]

My guess is they will probably start with Spainish and eventually if that works out include more and more languages.

I am doubtful...
It had been years since companies started offering Spanish on their customer service phone calls, yet the other languages are still not available.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Yes. A couple weeks back there were warnings of flash floods here. I got push notifications from two different weather apps, and then a few minutes later, the OMFG LOUD AS FK emergency alert that caused me to turn that off for good.
[doublepost=1475176730][/doublepost]

There's a few problems as currently implemented though.

1. Why is the alert sound the loudest sound to ever come out of my phone? Seriously, it's 2 to 3 times louder than the loudest sound ever emitted previously.

2. Chicken Little syndrome - if your phone makes this massively annoying sound too often, you soon either ignore it or turn it off, rendering the system useless.

3. When in a large building with lots of smartphones, it's comical how god damn loud this gets as 200 phones start blaring this sound simultaneously, and every single person scrambles to silence it while making exclamations of surprise and annoyance.

Those are the three that occur to me off the top of my head, and everyone I know has turned them off because it's just a bad implementation of a decent idea.

I guess such a sound should only play when it's for God damn certain that you should in ANY situation know about the alert RIGHT AWAY.

e.g. a nuclear power plant just blew up or had a very serious incident within a relevant radius.
North Korea finally managed to build the nuke and somehow got it past all air defense systems. (by the way: stop being so panicked by NK everyone. Yes, take them seriously and try to have peace, but stop ******** your pants everybody.)
A flood wave is literally about to sweep your butt.
Satan himself arose from the underworld and is beginning to enslave the entire population. Find a hiding place asap maybe.

Some examples where I don't give a damn how loud the sound is that's emitted from my phone and dozens around me. Have at it!

Otherwise: leave me alone, I check my phone every 10 minutes anyways like everyone else, because it's not the 1990's anymore where a mobile phone's charge lasts for a week and you forget where it is, it's 2016 and everybody is an addict and batteries last half a day or a day.

Either way, in Germany we don't quite have this system yet, at least not nation-wide.
Some states already have their up and running, but I believe that soon it's a national system even or at least available anywhere and I think that's good.

Hope the implementation gets better.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[mijail]

[doublepost=1475262512][/doublepost]
Well then, I am sure if your child is abducted, you'll tell law enforcement not to put out one of those "cheap and easy, feel good" Amber Alerts. Hopefully, your spouse will have a clearer mind.

Next time you are complaining that the police are not there when you need them, check your phone - you might have some useless Amber Alert, which might explain the police being busy. But don't worry, in a while you'll get the Amber Alert cancellation.

Did you care to check the study I linked to, or are you just addicted to security theatre, damned be statistics?
[doublepost=1475525017][/doublepost]

I don't see anything particularly cheap or easy about implementing a system like this as opposed to doing nothing. Besides, if the system had only successfully identified a single kidnapped child in an area the police weren't looking, resulting in their safe return (as opposed to apparently a few hundred), I'd still think it was worth it.

If you care to check the study, you'll see that "if a single child was returned" is a pretty bad way to look at it.

 

[C DM]

Next time you are complaining that the police are not there when you need them, check your phone - you might have some useless Amber Alert, which might explain the police being busy. But don't worry, in a while you'll get the Amber Alert cancellation.

Did you care to check the study I linked to, or are you just addicted to security theatre, damned be statistics?
[doublepost=1475525017][/doublepost]

If you care to check the study, you'll see that "if a single child was returned" is a pretty bad way to look at it.

Unfortunately as it relates to the alerts on the phones, given the current implementations, what ends up happening is that people just turn them off as they don't really have much control over them otherwise.