It was a bit odd to have every cellphone in a hallway go off with the same tone. I guess some folks weren't watching the news and didn't get word before hand.
Presidential Alerts
11–20 of 122 posts
Re: Presidential Alerts
#12Anyone know anything about the underlying tech? Is it related to E911, e.g. any privacy implications?
Re: Presidential Alerts
#13Why can't I disable or opt out of this?
on the iPhone there's a setting for "Emergency Alerts" at the bottom of Settings -> Notifications.
edit: apparently "Presidential" alerts will override this setting, so I guess you can't disable it after all.
Re: Presidential Alerts
#14.
Re: Presidential Alerts
#15The TV (even streamed) was 5 minutes late due to the standard delay.
Re: Presidential Alerts
#16The moment I saw this pop up on my screen, all I could think of was the destruction one could cause via fake alerts. For instance, a warning of incoming nuclear warheads like what happened in Hawaii a few months ago. Sure, news stations might rapidly debunk it, but how many people wouldn't see it? Cell towers would be overloaded with calls and data, preventing the dissemination of info to many. Radio would be the best bet, but how many people would go out to their car (likely the only place they have a radio) when they think an attack may be imminent?
A centralized system like this seems like an extremely dangerous thing to have.
Re: Presidential Alerts
#17Only about half my office got one. Anyone know what that's about?
Re: Presidential Alerts
#18I can't think of an important message that could go over this channel that would not cause more panic than if it were not sent.
Unless it's some good thing, like "we landed on the moon" or "victory in Europe"
If it's about a natural disaster or threat that affects the whole country, forget about it...
Re: Presidential Alerts
#19Why can't I disable or opt out of this?
on the iPhone there's a setting for "Emergency Alerts" at the bottom of Settings -> Notifications. edit: apparently "Presidential" alerts will override this setting, so I guess you can't disable it after all.
>apparently "Presidential" alerts will override this setting, so I guess you can't disable it after all
That is my point. Not sure why I'm getting downvoted.
Re: Presidential Alerts
#20Only one person at my office even got the alert. I'm going to have to call this test of the system a failure. Dammit, and I'd even queued up Orff's "O Fortuna" to go with the rising crescendo of Emergency Alert System tones.
> Only one person at my office even got the alert. I'm going to have to call this test of the system a failure.
At my office, I heard a propagation of what I thought were amber alerts rippling up the hallway, and sure enough, my phone got it too, except it wasn't an amber alert.