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Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

cnn.com

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Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#101

Post by joshstrange »

Loughla wrote: post #55
jagged-chisel wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ When we ask for any member of the Brandt family, every phone in South America rings.” That sounds like the computer had a bad solution to “find a Brandt.” The comment with the request to find this reference had me thinking it would be a single phone number misconfigured to call a large population.

It actually had nothing to do with a computer! It was the luck of either Teela Brown, or Mr. Brandt depending on how you read the genetic trait of luck. If you haven't read ringworld, you should. It's really quite good. But stop before you get to ringworld's children or whatever it's called. Niven's furry fetish is in full force later in the series.

I enjoy the Ringworld series but the was Teela Brown is talked about/portrayed (really women in general in the book) is pretty gross on a re-read (I originally read them very young and most of it went over my head or I just wasn’t paying enough attention).

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it, I have similar (though it no where near as bad IMHO) thoughts on The Wheel of Time portrayal of women though Ringworld is worse. I still love WoT but I do give a disclaimer when recommending it.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#102

Post by _el1s7 »

initramfs wrote: post #38

"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…

This is so lame. It's not up to you to define what's a "real hacker". Building and breaking are not exclusive to each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#103

Post by abc123abc123 »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

This is the way! One jurisdiction where I resided for a while loved these alerts. A rain cloud, warm weather, too cold, too warm, the phone was beeping at least 1 or 2 times a month. Fortunately my trusty chinese produced Nokia allowed me to turn all of it off to get some peace.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#104

Post by numpad0 »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

The 4G/5G Public Warning System is fundamentally designed for instantaneous earthquake and tsunami response.

It's a bit like modern day equivalent of air raid sirens, or incoming nuke alerts, even. And as such, it's just unfit for things that don't require immediate and full alert. AMBER alerts are just not good use of it.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#105

Post by wolvoleo »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

Here in Spain the alerts completely ignore my settings. They sound even when I turn them off on my Samsung. And they send them way too frequently, since the floods in Valencia last year they are constantly bothering us with minor weather issues, afraid they'll get blamed.

We don't have presidents here but they mark everything at the highest alert level.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#106

Post by wolvoleo »

alister wrote: post #75
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

> Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset Except you can't in Canada. The Canadian government has made the alerts mandatory. The option to disable alerts in not present in settings menu (at least on iPhones). You can disable alerts in Brazil. So in one sense, Brazil is more free than Canada.

You can disable the right background service on Android phones through ADB.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#107

Post by inigyou »

fc417fc802 wrote: post #86
harrall wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not a technical problem. And the problem is that it’s not centralized. Everyone and their mom has their own system, managed by different people with different standards. It’s like USB cables — yes there are strict technical standards but when you have a million different manufacturers, they all do it differently and some cut corners and bend the rules how they want to. Look at how two different cities handle the…

> It’s not a technical problem. I agree. It's a lack of technical proficiency on the part of the world's government's problem, which is another way of saying it's a political problem. > And the problem is that it’s not centralized. It is, though. The implementation might not be uniform but the architecture is inherently centralized. Subscribers do not get to pick and choose sources, that is decided by the network ope…

What emergency alerts would BigCo push to people on its campus?

There would be no consent btw, they'd just fire anyone who didn't enable the alerts.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#108

Post by inigyou »

numpad0 wrote: post #104
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

The 4G/5G Public Warning System is fundamentally designed for instantaneous earthquake and tsunami response. It's a bit like modern day equivalent of air raid sirens, or incoming nuke alerts, even. And as such, it's just unfit for things that don't require immediate and full alert. AMBER alerts are just not good use of it.

It's another instance of: give a politician a fish and watch him smear it on the walls to stink up the place, throw it in the garbage and then complain he's still hungry.

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#109

Post by inigyou »

stavros wrote: post #35
neko_ranger wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lets play a game HN, what would be the best alert to send? mine would be something scifi, like "ALIENS HAVE LANDED" or "PLUTO DECLARES WAR"

"Due to deteriorating economic conditions, we have decided to abolish currency altogether. The Real is now worth nothing. All trade will henceforth be performed exclusively in gold."

surely you mean dogecoin

Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil

#110

Post by lucasfcosta »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #66

Disabling alerts is the second thing I do to a new handset (after rooting) - including Presidential alerts. The Amber alerts I got were often hundreds of miles away. But even if they were closer - say only 25 mi away, I'm still not going to be any help. Weather alerts weren't much better. Having my device sound the klaxons over Red Flag warnings conditioned me to ignore all alerts.

You cannot disable maximum severity cell broadcast alerts on the iPhone.
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