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Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

arstechnica.com

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Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#61

Post by MBCook »

Semaphor wrote: post #39
danpalmer wrote: post #12

iPhones have exactly the same feature, activated in almost the same way, except that it requires one fewer interactions with the device to trigger, and yet, there's no reporting about this happening too much with iPhones, nor was there any when the feature came out a few years ago. Additionally, this doesn't seem to have been a problem when it rolled out on Pixel devices a year and a half ago, Pixels are certainly co…

The iPhone had its articles about it half a year ago: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastYear&page=0&prefix=tru...

No, that’s crash detection. Not pressing a button multiple times accidentally.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#62

Post by MBCook »

moojd wrote: post #31
danpalmer wrote: post #12

iPhones have exactly the same feature, activated in almost the same way, except that it requires one fewer interactions with the device to trigger, and yet, there's no reporting about this happening too much with iPhones, nor was there any when the feature came out a few years ago. Additionally, this doesn't seem to have been a problem when it rolled out on Pixel devices a year and a half ago, Pixels are certainly co…

There have been a few articles about iPhone 911 calls at bonaroo this week: https://gizmodo.com/iphones-false-911-calls-bonnaroo-android...

That’s the crash detection feature, not hitting a button repeatedly.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#63

Post by Alupis »

mahathu wrote: post #58
notmyuserlogin wrote: post #42

It isn't just a problem with Android. I volunteer for a small fire department. We respond to about 500 calls a year. Since January I can think of three times the automatic crash detection on iOS devices has called us out by mistake. 1) A person left their phone on their car and it fell off. Being a small town one of the volunteers was able to find the owner and bring them the phone. 2) A gps location in the middle of…

I hate Apple as much as any other large tech company, but 1/4 true emergency rate seems like a pretty good start in cases where a person's life may be at risk! Emergency services in my city (the one you call via phone) have a "true emergency" rate of about 1 in 10 according to emergency personnel I talked to, so it is always a matter of balancing the false positive/false negative rate.

Another way to look at it - 1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms.

Seconds literally matter for many emergencies.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#64

Post by throwaway09223 »

notmyuserlogin wrote: post #42

It isn't just a problem with Android. I volunteer for a small fire department. We respond to about 500 calls a year. Since January I can think of three times the automatic crash detection on iOS devices has called us out by mistake. 1) A person left their phone on their car and it fell off. Being a small town one of the volunteers was able to find the owner and bring them the phone. 2) A gps location in the middle of…

For everyone blaming modern tech: The only time police have ever come to my house from a 911 call was back in the 90s. Some combination of a noisy phone line and a broken 900MHz cordless phone managed to call 911 and they followed up. They said not to worry, it happens all the time and was a notable portion of their calls.

These types of false calls have been happening for a long, long time. We should get more data and fix the system for sure -- but this isn't a new dynamic and the historic baseline before smartphones isn't zero.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#65

Post by martin8412 »

at_a_remove wrote: post #23
danpalmer wrote: post #12

iPhones have exactly the same feature, activated in almost the same way, except that it requires one fewer interactions with the device to trigger, and yet, there's no reporting about this happening too much with iPhones, nor was there any when the feature came out a few years ago. Additionally, this doesn't seem to have been a problem when it rolled out on Pixel devices a year and a half ago, Pixels are certainly co…

Not that different. In 2018, there were a lot of fake 911 calls from iPhones, if you look around for it. Now the iPhone's fake 911 call issue comes from its "auto car crash detection," which gets set off when people ski and, well, fall.

I've had my Apple Watch detected me playing volley ball as having a serious fall, but it doesn't call until after a minute, and it makes quite a loud sound to notify the wearer that it's about to call.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#67

Post by [deleted] »

SoftTalker wrote: post #17
INTPenis wrote: post #7

My worst pet peeve is seeing someone put a phone in their pocket with the screen still on. So the first thing I do on any phone is make sure that when I turn it off, it remains off, until a call or until I turn it back on. This is common sense to me, but unfortunately most people use default settings.

I reflexively click the button to lock the phone before I put it in my pocket, but iOS has some impossible-to-disable shortcuts that work even when the screen is locked, such as activating the camera. Several times I've pulled my phone out to see that the camera is on. I've got no idea why this is possible with the phone "locked" but I've searched for a way to disable it and there doesn't seem to be one.

[deleted]

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#68

Post by reaperducer »

Alupis wrote: post #63
mahathu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate Apple as much as any other large tech company, but 1/4 true emergency rate seems like a pretty good start in cases where a person's life may be at risk! Emergency services in my city (the one you call via phone) have a "true emergency" rate of about 1 in 10 according to emergency personnel I talked to, so it is always a matter of balancing the false positive/false negative rate.

Another way to look at it - 1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms. Seconds literally matter for many emergencies.

Another way to look at it - 1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms.

Your position makes the assumption that the rest of the emergency services infrastructure is at maximum use at all times.

The OP was talking about a place where they use volunteers, so it's not likely that they're constantly in use.

While you are correct that seconds can sometimes matter, it's not always true. Not every emergency call is life-or-death. Not every emergency call even requires a response.

Imaging a hypothetical world where every call is a true emergency, and emergency services are at 100% utilization 100% of the time is arguing just for the sake of arguing.

I live in a place where emergency services is over-taxed. But I'd rather have actual lives saved with a certain number of false alarms than have people die because someone decided that perfection is the only option.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#69

Post by kevinventullo »

Alupis wrote: post #63
mahathu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate Apple as much as any other large tech company, but 1/4 true emergency rate seems like a pretty good start in cases where a person's life may be at risk! Emergency services in my city (the one you call via phone) have a "true emergency" rate of about 1 in 10 according to emergency personnel I talked to, so it is always a matter of balancing the false positive/false negative rate.

Another way to look at it - 1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms. Seconds literally matter for many emergencies.

I don’t think that follows from their example at all.

Re: Android’s emergency call shortcut is flooding dispatchers with false calls

#70

Post by mahathu »

Alupis wrote: post #63
mahathu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate Apple as much as any other large tech company, but 1/4 true emergency rate seems like a pretty good start in cases where a person's life may be at risk! Emergency services in my city (the one you call via phone) have a "true emergency" rate of about 1 in 10 according to emergency personnel I talked to, so it is always a matter of balancing the false positive/false negative rate.

Another way to look at it - 1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms. Seconds literally matter for many emergencies.

"1/4 of the time people who needed emergency responders had to wait because they were busy looking into false alarms."

That would be even better, as that would mean 3/4 of the alarms are hits/non false-positives. I argue that even a 1/4 hit rate, i.e. 3/4 false positive rate, is a good start.

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