You know those beeps and scrambling sounds that suddenly interrupt the radio or TV to announce some kind of emergency, such as a kidnapping or the license plate of a car on the loose? Now, there is an Emergency Broadcast System that works on cell phones by sending out text messages to people in a certain region.
The government, through the communications company Alcatel-Lucent would send out warnings "geographically-targeted", whether it is a "terrorist attack", "natural disaster", a "school or campus emergency", or any other kind of emergency.
While this might be a more efficient way to get out the message, as today is an age of technology in which people are constantly on the go and away from television, I hope that the company would be reliable in sending out only the necessary amount of texting and not use this as an opportunity to exploit the data access. But the Alcatel-Lucent does prove some capability in that it has already tested its system in San Diego and Tampa Bay will all mobile carriers.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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5 comments:
While this seems like a good step in further improving the release of warnings during a disaster, I sort of wonder how they find the numbers to send out the messages? Would people have to sign up for the program, or would the government have to get the numbers directly through the companies.
This sounds like a really good idea. This would be a more efficient way to spread the news of an emergency just because a lot of people won't be watching television or listening to the radio if something were to occur, but more people would have their cell phones available. This could save many lives because it warns people in targeted zones of disasters or any other type of danger.
I'm a bit hesitant to say this is a good idea, because many people in any area of the United States, don't have a cell phone. We don't realize it since we live in a fairly privileged area, but even some people at Aragon don't own cell phones, for their own reasons.
Sending out text messages is a good idea, and it's a less irritating on than having news stations and the like sending out a message on our TVs. It's been really useful on college campuses, which send out text messages to students who sign up, and they are notified if something happens on campus or in their city.
I'm worried that people who don't have cell phones would be at a major disadvantage. Even when the TV warning system is in use, some people don't get the message because they either don't own a TV or don't get signal. I guess, in the greatest scheme of things, in the most idealistic world, the government would send out messages via the radio, TV, and cell phone, but in an obviously very tech-savvy age, (hopefully) a switch to text messages will reach the maximum amount of people, who will hopefully then make sure the people around them are aware of whatever event will be coming.
I would suppose that the government would temporarily assume control of the telephone companies in order to spread the word about a disaster or attack. I realize that this would bring up some questions on whether or not this is constitutional, but I say who cares? If it helps and its used well, then I'm not complaining. I also don't think we're going to see a government takeover in communication networks like Skynet and have a nuclear war on our hands as a result.
I live in the highlands and just a couple of years ago the city opened a juvenile hall that was located very close to my house. Only a little after the facility opened, one of the inmates escaped. We recieved text messages informing us of the important news. We did have to sign up for this ahead of time (and that is how the city got our number) but we were thankful we did. The alert program was offered to the people in the community and those who wanted to be included simply had to give them their phone numbers. I think this is a really good idea because it is a direct way to alert people w/o having to be near a tv.
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