Mission creep will certainly mean its used for nag messaging. It won't be long before emergency alerts will be used to ask if you've had your 5-a-day, or is your journey necessary.
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First National UK Emergency Alerts Test Set for Today, But iPhones Won't Be Included in Testing Until Next Week
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I think I will be alright without them. The UK government and IT are not two things that go together well. Especially if Dido Harding gets involved- hopefully she won't with this project.
The point of these is that they're localised. You won't get alerts in Scotland for an emergency that only affects London. Unless they screw it up, of course.
They'll push out notices of 'national importance', forgetting that England isn't the entire nation and that something happening in England isn't important. I very much can see if someone has a sneeze in London we all need too hear about it, but if Sheffield is under water again it'll go unnoticed. And that's just events in England.
Sure it'll be a great way for them to warn us about the upcoming flu epidemic & common cold lockdown of Winter 2021 that they're already bleating about 🤪
If a ballistic missile was to hit London today it would have very real consequences for me in Glasgow, regardless of whether there is a hard or soft border between us and England. I could have family, friends, business colleagues in the immediate vicinity, or it could be that the whole United Kingdom will probably be going to war which would have a massive affect on the whole country.
You are just coming across as petty. The Uk Gov failing to apologise for sending messages at the height of worldwide pandemic that's killed thousands of people in Scotland, and you want repercussions?!
Gie's peace!
If London was nuked, you can bet your bottom dollar you'll be affected by it. What a ludicrous, selfish, and cruel statement to make.
Could you elaborate on what notifications you were "bombarded" with? I received one SMS notification from "UK_Gov", then a letter from the UK Government through the door. There was another one from the Scottish government, but as far as I could tell, it was a find / replace job on "Prime Minister" to "First Minister" - a huge waste of money.
The text messages were absolutely not unsolicited at all, they were an essential communication... who or why would anyone make an apology for an essential communication?
I did not opt in to having strangers send me messages. My phone is for me to read emails and the web on the go, not for people to contact me nor send me unsolicited text messages.
And you won't hear about this on the news, the web, Apple news, newspapers? Do you need a text message forced into your phone? With all those other options, you have choices of how you want to hear about important news and how you choose to filter it. The text message the English government sent out to everyone was not optional, there, was no opt-in required and no opt-out link. No one asked if me if I wanted my number shared with that organisation.
I can't fathom why you are ok with having such messages forced on you. It is up to the individual if they want to give a monkeys about what is going on out of their own countries borders.
I did not once give that government nor any other permission to contact me. It therefor is an unsolicited message. It had absolutely no relevance to me, it is up to the Scottish government to lockdown the country. And even then, they can do it without sending silly text messages I haven't subscribe too.
I'm fairly sure with this government an accidental Vote Conservative message will be pushed out at the next election.
In what way does it affect me? It would be a tragic loss of life but no different than if a tidal wave hits India or the USA. In fact since we have some family in the USA that would be more of a concern. London is just another city.
I hope Michael Gove hijacks the system and starts sending screen shots of Boris whats app messages. 😂
How does the emergency message system know if you are a Scottish resident working in London, or an English resident visiting Scotland? Should you not be sent a message regarding one area of the United Kingdom because you aren't in it at that point in time? Do you want your mobile subscriber to be sharing your address details with every country you visit to make sure you don't receive critical messages?
Honestly, your argument doesn't hold any water whatsoever. If messages are sent that are not giving information that is safety related then I will 100% back you on what you say, but until then, every single person should get critical messages that may or may not affect the lives of the user or their families pushed to them.
Grow up. And I say that as someone who is pro-independence.
You are aware of the UK's nuclear submarine base at Faslane, yes? Probably the number one target for any foreign power that may attack the UK? If someone nuked London, Faslane would be attacked within minutes wiping out most of Scotland's population along with it.
I actually have pity for you with this staunch "England has nothing to do with me attitude".
Irrelivent...? Yeah, COVID-19 got to the Scottish border and never bothered to go further.
The government doesn't need to ask you for permission to send essential communications. Get a grip of yourself.
If I got a message about incoming nukes it wouldn’t help me at all. I die with angst about impending doom in ten minutes.
It would maybe be nice as a scott to hear that London will be nuked in ten minutes thou..
Your benefits are likely to stop if no-one in London is alive to pay tax?
lol - kidding; I love the Jocks.
As a person who lives in Scotland, please be assured that this attitude is held by only a minority of bitter, angry, ignorant, toxic (and often, uneducated) Scottish nationalists.
Easy solution, make it opt in and don't send messages to people who haven't opted in. At least with this system there is a way to opt-out. There was no opt-in nor opt-out when a mass of unsolicited text messages where sent out. I do not want to get any txt messages what so ever from any source on my phone. My phone is for browsing the web and reading emails.
As a Brit living in the US, everyone I know turns those irritating amber alerts off. I'm sorry your car was stolen but I'm not interested in getting pinged every day. Still get the important alerts like hurricanes or wild fires etc which is fine, but they start to become meaningless when it's for every little thing.
And if Faslane is attacked then I'll know about it though the news sources I wish to visit. I don't need nor want a txt message or push notification I haven't subscribed too.
I am not sure why, it isn't uncommon in humanity to care little for what goes on outside your own borders. What happens in England affects me as much and as little as events in France, the USA, Russia, Thailand, or even the middle of the ocean. Not one thing that happens there has any impact on my day to day life. It isn't like I am going to sing with joy if some terrorists attack them again, but at the same time I'd just go "Oh that was a shame" then read the next news story. If something happened in my own village you'll be damn sure I care about it and that I want to do something to help the situation. Local issues matter to me.
Regardless, the point I am making is that this should be opt in. Perhaps even a prompt so users can select if they want these notifications with information on why they are being sent, who by, and even a geofence.
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Part of the reason I left the UK. Utterly despise the SNP and their supporters attitude towards England and much of what makes the country great. My best friend and his family are English, to me they are fellow countrymen.
Not too mention the damage they've done to budgets, education, and the economy. I'm just sorry so much of my family is still there living with Sturgeons dictats and the justice minister's outright racism and anti-free speech laws. Disgusting individuals.
You know most of it is like 'Wildfire moving North along xyz, evacuate immediately' or 'Active shooter in xyz, stay in your homes'. They none amber alert warnings are actually a good thing. Sounds like you're just hateful of England.