Presidential Alert Allows for Government to Send out Emergency Messages

[Shreyas1]

On October 3, most people in the US will receive a test message to verify if the Government can send out an emergency message to the people.

 

Quote

The test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS, is supposed to determine the readiness of the president to send out a nationwide message in case of emergency. If you've ever received one of those Amber Alerts on your phone, the Oct. 3 alert will pop up similarly. FEMA says the test will have the banner "Presidential Alert" and read, "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed."

It turns out that most carriers will be utilizing this, so chances are you will get the message

 

Personally, I think this is a great idea in case anything happens, though as the article states, it could have catastrophic effects if what happens in Hawaii earlier this year happens again

 

Source:https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-can-text-every-phone-in-the-us-will-test-presidential-alert-on-oct-3/

[Trik'Stari]

I'll be interested to see how it works.

 

The area I live in and work in experienced some seriously bad weather today. Tornado's, thunderstorms, an all around bad time.

 

A lot of my coworkers had their phones blowing up with automated tornado watch and tornado warning messages, while myself and others received nothing.

[Slottr]

I thought this was already implemented? Or is this just a modified version of what the US had before?

[ARikozuM]

People are going to think this is an abuse of power by the presidential office... 

 

14 minutes ago, Slottr said:

I thought this was already implemented? Or is this just a modified version of what the US had before?

What we have now are amber alerts which are regional. If you're out of range of the tower sending the signal, you won't receive the message. 

 

At least, that's how I understand it.

[Drak3]

Something else I got to block then.

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Something else I got to block then.

Zombies are attacking and you'll be walking right into them.

 

Or worse, RE6 is remastered and you didn't get the memo to avoid the GameStop plague. 

[Drak3]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Zombies are attacking and you'll be walking right into them.

I have guns for a reason.

 

Just now, ARikozuM said:

RE6 is remastered and you didn't get the memo to avoid the GameStop plague. 

I don't give a shit about Resident Evil.

[Arika]

The test will read: "I make the best National Alerts, just ask anybody. No-one is better at National Alerts than I am."

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

I have guns for a reason.

Hey, [wife's name]! What are yo--- Oh, God! Why are you biting my neck!? [dead]

Spoiler

What am I thinking... Everyone knows life ends when you're married. 

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

I don't give a shit about Resident Evil.

Neither did anyone else after 6. 

[Drak3]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Hey, [wife's name]! What are yo--- Oh, God! Why are you biting my neck!? [dead]

Single.

 

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Neither did anyone else after 6. 

Didn't care before 6.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Single.

Good to know. Keep it that way. 

Just now, Drak3 said:

Didn't care before 6.

How dare you, sir!?

[Drak3]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

How dare you, sir!?

TBH, outside of RE6 and 7, the games are pretty shitty.

 

Just now, ARikozuM said:

Good to know. Keep it that way.

Make me.

[Slottr]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

TBH, outside of RE6 and 7, the games are pretty shitty.

 

Make me.

oof

[imreloadin]

20 minutes ago, Slottr said:

I thought this was already implemented? Or is this just a modified version of what the US had before?

It has been implemented for a while but has never been tested. It was listed under the alert options on my OnePlus One which I got back in 2013.

14 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Something else I got to block then.

You can't block this alert, the other types are blockable however.

[Drak3]

Just now, imreloadin said:

You can't block this alert

Yet.

 

I don't appreciate unwanted notifications being sent to my phones.

[imreloadin]

Just now, Drak3 said:

Yet.

 

I don't appreciate unwanted notifications being sent to my phones.

Not even if they have meaningful information?

[ryao]

25 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

People are going to think this is an abuse of power by the presidential office... 

 

What we have now are amber alerts which are regional. If you're out of range of the tower sending the signal, you won't receive the message. 

 

At least, that's how I understand it.

They implemented presidential alerts at the same time as amber alerts. They also made it illegal for phone manufacturers to provide as way of blocking them.

[poochyena]

Sounds good to me.

[Drak3]

6 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

Not even if they have meaningful information?

It's not meaningful to me.

[Donut417]

36 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

People are going to think this is an abuse of power by the presidential office... 

 

What we have now are amber alerts which are regional. If you're out of range of the tower sending the signal, you won't receive the message. 

 

At least, that's how I understand it.

My phone does Amber alerts, Weather Alerts and Presidential alerts. Its already been implmented, at least at the software level. 

 

14 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

Not even if they have meaningful information?

Meaningful info from our government? LOL. Plus is this going to work? The EAS doesn't work properly at the national level. If its important social media has a better change of getting it out then this. 

[HarryNyquist]

They just pushed it back to Oct. 3 because of Florence.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-alerts/u-s-pushes-back-national-wireless-alert-test-to-oct-3-idUSKCN1LX1VB

 

Quote

The test message was originally scheduled for 2:18 p.m. EDT (1818 GMT) on Thursday but is being pushed back to the same time on Oct. 3 because of response efforts to Tropical Depression Florence, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement.

 

[bcredeur97]

this is good unless someone accidentally presses the "INCOMING NUCLEAR MISSILE TAKE COVER" button

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, bcredeur97 said:

this is good unless someone accidentally presses the "INCOMING NUCLEAR MISSILE TAKE COVER" button

Just don't let that intern from Hawaii near the controls again

[DrMacintosh]

Settings-> Notifications-> Government Alerts-> “Presidential Alerts”-> Off

[Lathlaer]

To be fair, I thought US had that kind of system already. I guess I saw it in some kind of movie or TV show and never assumed it wasn't reflected in the real world.

 

No biggie, I'd have nothing against it. I think this is more useful when talking about some non-weather based emergencies as aside from earthquakes we usually know about storms/floods/hurricanes way earlier to prepare.