41–50 of 299 posts
Which also reminds me how the NSA has intentionally crippled standards in the past so they could eavesdrop or inject code without having to go through the carrier. This means Johnny Scriptsalot can do it too.
In Germany people may not be as used to natural disasters and the like, but where I've travelled where the weather is way more extreme, these are like life saving emergency alerts so you don't get sucked into a tornado like a cow or die in a flood or tsunami. I love how jarring the alerts are, there was an incident in the USA recently where some way too close menu entry got hit at an emergency alert center for a nucl…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The part you mention I was aware of and am actually thankful for. This, at least to me, goes much further. Hence the shock. Updated my post w/more details so it makes more sense (hopefully).
I don't know if this happens in The Netherlands, but if they forced your phone to receive NL Alerts it would seem very reasonable to me. Only the government issues those. I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Then I could understand you considering cell broadcast being turned on being unreasonable
Err, no - emergency alerts aren’t used for advertising here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if this happens in The Netherlands, but if they forced your phone to receive NL Alerts it would seem very reasonable to me. Only the government issues those. I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Then I could understand you considering cell broadcast being turned on being unreasonable
The fact the government issues the alerts doesn't mean the government won't get pressured into sending spammy messages. For example, what politician could turn down the grieving parents of a kidnapped child, when they call for using the emergency alert system for missing children? But if I work from home, and there aren't any kidnapped children in my home, then waking me up at 5am with a missing child alert just inco…
Everyone will be forced to see how much they care which proves how good they are, like it or not!
Stranger than waking people up from sleep for a custody disagreement, is when they'd broadcast those on TV... The purpose of those is not to find the kid, but to send a message to TV viewers, none of whom would be of any assistance in finding the kid.
You see this display of "care" with storm sirens being set off after the storm already passed the area.
In Germany people may not be as used to natural disasters and the like, but where I've travelled where the weather is way more extreme, these are like life saving emergency alerts so you don't get sucked into a tornado like a cow or die in a flood or tsunami. I love how jarring the alerts are, there was an incident in the USA recently where some way too close menu entry got hit at an emergency alert center for a nucl…
You can turn off all the government alerts in iOS, in the US at least. I have had them all off for many years since one woke me up in the middle of the night for no reason.
IMHO, carrier settings are a small portion and not super impactful part of the phone configuration you see in the settings list. This is actually a somewhat cool feature. Imagine going to another country, jumping on another network and your phone automatically knows what cell bands and towers to connect to. Carriers can't change regular settings like language, lock screen code or background. Just what cell towers you…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can turn off all the government alerts in iOS, in the US at least. I have had them all off for many years since one woke me up in the middle of the night for no reason.
Quite the opposite in Canada unfortunately, specifically Ontario but other provinces may be a joke as well... Can't turn off alerts, and we're well known for sending them out in the middle of the night, or just sending test alerts with no significant value. Thankfully silent mode turns them into vibrations, I feel sorry for those who use ringtones. Moved back here after living in SF for so long and this feels ass bac…
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/07/ambert-alert-phone-4...
I remember group chats of people discussing how to turn it off and my friends and I telling our parents how to turn them off.
Yes, Cell Broadcasts are controllable by carriers and that's even mandated in some countries (e.g in USA the carrier can send out a broadcast that will ignore all "silent phone" settings and scream loudly no matter what you've set and where). This will happen on all phones allowed to be used in those regions - whether Apple, Google, Samsung, Nokia or even Huawei. You can attempt to disable it, but you need to be awar…
My iOS settings and experience differ from this rather greatly - can you cite any such laws or regulations?
I have clear settings on my up to date ios device in the US, on a large American carrier that allow me to a)ignore emergency alerts, b) get them but silently if my phone is in silent mode, or c) allow them through at full blast.
In Germany people may not be as used to natural disasters and the like, but where I've travelled where the weather is way more extreme, these are like life saving emergency alerts so you don't get sucked into a tornado like a cow or die in a flood or tsunami. I love how jarring the alerts are, there was an incident in the USA recently where some way too close menu entry got hit at an emergency alert center for a nucl…
I think your example is a powerful reminder why folks turn off alerts. For most of us tho, it was the bazillionth urgent notice of a non-applicable event.