Although there are no such things where I live, I turn off all cells for the night. Why don't you?
I live where tornados are thing, so I want a wake up when there's a warning.
Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
141–150 of 154 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that very few are actually "stranger danger" kidnappings; they're almost always custody disputes. And if you live anywhere near a major city, you will get them relatively often. If there was a way to turn off "parent kidnappings" and leave the rest on, I'm sure most people would take it.
Although I agree with the premise you are making, that many Amber Alerts are regularly caused because one of the parents takes the child without authorization, it is important to remember that sexual and physical violence, including murder, is more likely to be committed by someone known to the victim rather than a stranger. The perpetrator is largely immaterial. To suppose that a child is therefore somehow in less d…
Beyond the nuisance factor, there is literally nothing helpful I can do. I turned the alerts off. Knowledge of something does not mean we can control it - kidnapping, earthquake.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is nothing automated about originating those alerts. The actual procedure for transmitting the alert is manual. The incident has to meet state criteria including likelihood of harm to the child, criminal activity, information about the vehicle and other facts. A missing child in a custody dispute alone is rarely enough to trigger an alert. One of the leading types of child abductions leading to alerts is vehicl…
> One of the leading types of child abductions leading to alerts is vehicle theft with a child in the vehicle. Not a custody dispute. "The vast majority of child abductions are carried out by a relative or close acquaintance of the victim, often a divorced parent who was not granted custody... about 20 percent involved a kidnapping by a stranger or slight acquaintance of the child. In the other 80 percent of cases, t…
Are there any stats available about the breakdown for the subset that get amber alerts?
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a weather radio in our bedroom with only two alerts enabled: tornado warning (not watch), and the nuclear power plant 6 miles away just had an incident, whatever that’s called. Weather radio alerts are very granular and most radios will let you configure just the ones you want to hear. https://www.weather.gov/nwr/eventcodes
It's always fun to watch the new people near the plant when the emergency alert warning system is tested. Most people do NOT expect a "voice of God" to start yelling at them out of nowhere, even if it is only a test. Once you know about them, they're relatively easy to spot (look in areas near power plants, downstream of dams, etc). You can find some here and use them as ringtones! https://www.whelenmassnotification.…
By "voice of god" do you mean an outside PA system (like air raid sirens)? I didn't know that they had these anywhere in the US other than for tornados.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One of the leading types of child abductions leading to alerts is vehicle theft with a child in the vehicle. Not a custody dispute. "The vast majority of child abductions are carried out by a relative or close acquaintance of the victim, often a divorced parent who was not granted custody... about 20 percent involved a kidnapping by a stranger or slight acquaintance of the child. In the other 80 percent of cases, t…
Are there any stats available about the breakdown for the subset that get amber alerts?
Sorry, my fault for combining sentences! it was 80% of the amber alerts they studied.
"Presumably because of that need "to make an intuitive, rapid decision," as Griffin puts it, AMBER Alerts often turn out to be false alarms. Of the alerts the UNR team tracked, about 20 percent involved a kidnapping by a stranger or slight acquaintance of the child.
In the other 80 percent of cases, the youngsters were taken by a relative (most often a parent) or an acquaintance (frequently a babysitter). While such incidents can be traumatic to both the child and the custodial parent, they are routinely resolved peacefully."
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
> However the Canadian system (which is heavily based on the American system) is setup differently. All alerts are sent as 'National/Presidential Alerts'. None of the other alert levels are used. That's the dumbest thing ever. A presidential alert basically means "nukes incoming."
Here in the states, the Trump administration sent one out as "a test". I was not sober at the time and I genuinely was very nervous for the few seconds it took to open my phone and read the message.
It was pretty widely publicized before it happened, and I think it even got delayed a few days, during the business day. Honestly, I can't imagine it will ever be used for reals[1], but testing it once seems reasonable.
[1] few disasters, man made or natural, reach national scope. Even a grid failure would likely only reach half the country, but do you need a national alert for that? What useful content could it have?
Many inbound nukes is about all I could see it used for, but I expect that would cause more panic and be less useful than not sending a message... And I'm not convinced a decision to send a message would be made in a reasonable amount of time. State or local messaging seems more likely.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although I agree with the premise you are making, that many Amber Alerts are regularly caused because one of the parents takes the child without authorization, it is important to remember that sexual and physical violence, including murder, is more likely to be committed by someone known to the victim rather than a stranger. The perpetrator is largely immaterial. To suppose that a child is therefore somehow in less d…
Beyond the nuisance factor, there is literally nothing helpful I can do. I turned the alerts off. Knowledge of something does not mean we can control it - kidnapping, earthquake.
I mean, you could call the police if you see someone matching the description given.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here in the states, the Trump administration sent one out as "a test". I was not sober at the time and I genuinely was very nervous for the few seconds it took to open my phone and read the message.
It was pretty widely publicized before it happened, and I think it even got delayed a few days, during the business day. Honestly, I can't imagine it will ever be used for reals[1], but testing it once seems reasonable. [1] few disasters, man made or natural, reach national scope. Even a grid failure would likely only reach half the country, but do you need a national alert for that? What useful content could it have…
> Many inbound nukes is about all I could see it used for, but I expect that would cause more panic and be less useful than not sending a message..
What now? Sure it would cause less panic--in same the way shooting someone in the head unannounced would cause less panic than giving them warning to duck. If the nukes are incoming, "avoiding panic" is the wrong priority.
> And I'm not convinced a decision to send a message would be made in a reasonable amount of time. State or local messaging seems more likely.
IIRC, they're triggered directly for NORAD (or whatever it's called nowadays). There was actually a false alarm alert in the 70s, and it did get out quickly (google "code word hatefulness").
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#149Yeah I disabled it for those same reasons.
Re: Ask HN: Why is there no way to lower amber alert volume on headphones?
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's when you destroy the attention span of anyone within driving distance of a custodial dispute. There's also silver alerts, where you do the same for a missing old person.
>anyone within driving distance of a custodial dispute. A plausible thing to say, but do you have any numbers to back this up?
Yes, while I was aware of this prior from other sources, here's some data. https://www.protection1.com/_cdn/fractl/amber-alerts/assets/...
