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AT&T to Load iPhones With Emergency Alerts– That You Can’t Switch Off

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chas_m

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Two things:

1. You're making it sound as though you will be getting an alert every day. The only one of the three alerts you can't switch off is the Presidential Alerts, which would be some grave national emergency on a mass scale. You are fortunate to live in a country where you can expect this to be very rare indeed.

2. The other two types of alerts -- local and AMBER alerts -- are less rare but can be turned off if you choose.
 

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This is total nonsense. National emergency alerts are going to appear on your TV, radio, whatever. The Gateway Pundit makes it sound like this is something instigated by the Obama administration.
 
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Two things:

1. You're making it sound as though you will be getting an alert every day. The only one of the three alerts you can't switch off is the Presidential Alerts, which would be some grave national emergency on a mass scale. You are fortunate to live in a country where you can expect this to be very rare indeed.

2. The other two types of alerts -- local and AMBER alerts -- are less rare but can be turned off if you choose.

I am not making it sound like anything.
I just reported the article.

I have no idea what all the alerts could be at this point..
 
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If these alerts are anything of importance, you might as well live in the Midwest. Nothing says "basement" faster than a tornado warning popping up on your phone - which is where apps like The Weather Channel and WeatherBug come into play.

As for other alerts - who the heck doesn't watch TV and browse the internet?
 
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As for other alerts - who the heck doesn't watch TV and browse the internet?

I tend to miss all of these kinds of alerts. I don't always have my mass media screen on... despite big brother.
 
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I tend to miss all of these kinds of alerts. I don't always have my mass media screen on... despite big brother.

Surely you wouldn't have one of these:

162203_lg.jpg
 
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I can't think of a single thing since Pearl Harbor that would warrant a Presidential Alert. 9/11? No. 99.999 percent of the nation wasn't in danger.

But if they start getting out of hand, public outcry will get them pulled.

Anybody here old enough to remember the 1960's? TV was really getting started and the cold war seemed to be getting hotter every day. Broadcasters started to feel their oats and began interrupting evening broadcasts with "We interrupt this program for a special announcement from the White House. This is a National Emergency. Do not turn off your TV." Since two opposing navies were cruising the Caribbean (and other places) armed to the nuclear teeth, this tended to get your attention.

As I remember, it finally came to a head one night, as the ominous message interrupted the entertainment - I Love Lucy, or Gunsmoke or whatever, and as most of the nation prepared to lean over and kiss their derrieres goodbye, an announcer let the nation know that important medical sources have released the information that President Johnson's headache wasn't serious. (Really. It was something that trivial.)

Man, did that blow up. Had there been forums in those days, the servers would have collapsed under the load. As it was, newspaper editorials and comments sliced that policy to shreds.

End of alerts.
 
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If I was traveling and could get an alert based on geolocation data that a tornado warning is in effect in my vicinity, that's something I might appreciate. I know I wouldn't care to get an emergency message about a tornado touching down in Oklahoma though if I'm on the road in Florida.
 
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I don't see what the issue is. I'd much rather know that there is a storm emergency, or missing people being alerted on my phone, than there not being one. It's not like you're being charged for the texts. What's also good is that it follows you wherever you move to, and will automatically alert you to local issues that might come up.

I see no problem with it.

9/11? No. 99.999 percent of the nation wasn't in danger.
False. You don't remember airports getting shut down nation-wide? That would be a great time to implement such an alert via your cell-phone provider.
 
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False. You don't remember airports getting shut down nation-wide? That would be a great time to implement such an alert via your cell-phone provider.

Sorry. I disagree. The nation still wasn't in danger. The grounding of the planes was an inconvenience, not a threat. But that wasn't my point.

That kind of utility is like taxes - it tends to grow. Today it's for nuclear alerts, poison pills put in the nation's pharmacy, aliens bombarding Disneyland, etc.

Ridiculous, of course, but given the propensity of politicians for airtime, the urge will be irresistible to use it rather than just let it sit there. Think of Amber alerts or the weather radio. If you ducked and covered everytime the alarm went off about some storm somewhere, you would essentially be living underground. It's the old story about crying wolf - not long before it is totally ignored.
 
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Sorry. I disagree. The nation still wasn't in danger.

You're only making such a statement because you know of the events that happened.
The nation was in PLENTY of danger in real time, as it was happening, as evident by the attack on the WTC, PENTAGON, and by the downing of the other plane! No one is going to know exactly what dangerous events will lie ahead, so, to suggest otherwise is pretty ridiculous. Maybe you can't recall what happened during that time.
 
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I don't mind the option of being alerted. I just want to be able to turn it off. Too much government!
 
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You're only making such a statement because you know of the events that happened.
The nation was in PLENTY of danger in real time, as it was happening, as evident by the attack on the WTC, PENTAGON, and by the downing of the other plane! No one is going to know exactly what dangerous events will lie ahead, so, to suggest otherwise is pretty ridiculous. Maybe you can't recall what happened during that time.

Spot on. I couldn't have rebutted that better.
 
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You're only making such a statement because you know of the events that happened.
The nation was in PLENTY of danger in real time, as it was happening, as evident by the attack on the WTC, PENTAGON, and by the downing of the other plane! No one is going to know exactly what dangerous events will lie ahead, so, to suggest otherwise is pretty ridiculous. Maybe you can't recall what happened during that time.

The NATION wasn't in danger. People were. In certain locations.

I'm making the statements because the event was SPECTACULAR. In this country, and probably the world, only that class of event is worth obsessing over. Three thousand or so people died in those despicable acts. Since then, over a hundred thousand have died as a result of DUI. See any alerts? Why not? The nation is really and truly in danger. Don't you care enough to demand an alert for the thirty people who will die THIS VERY DAY from drivers like that drunk over there?

I knew the NATION wasn't in danger from the time the second plane hit and we knew it was deliberate. So did you. Did you (unless you lived in the target area) beat feet for the basement and hide? I suspect not. I didn't. I left the TV on and checked it occasionally because it was a major and horrible event. But I didn't worry about a passenger plane suddenly plowing into my happy home, or the town hall. I certainly hoped that whoever was doing it had run out of hijacked planes.

To be honest, if I had been in the upper levels of the government, responsible for what might happen, I probably would have it the red siren button, also. Of course, the sirens, alerts or messages wouldn't have had a single effect on anything except make people nervous.

A nuclear device on a city, rockets on radar coming over the poles, the appearance of an asteroid coming this way - ok, that's time to push the button.
 
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chas_m

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I can't think of a single thing since Pearl Harbor that would warrant a Presidential Alert. 9/11? No. 99.999 percent of the nation wasn't in danger.

I think you are (conveniently) forgetting that DURING the 9-11 attacks -- which as you already seem to have forgotten were directed at Washington DC *and* New York City (two of America's largest cities, so your grip on math is fairly weak as well) -- the country DID NOT KNOW if there were other attacks in other cities planned or in the process of being executed.

I think you have fundamentally misremembered 9/11, are taking for granted the remote possibility of a terrorist attack where you live (how nice for you) and do not understand the purpose of an Emergency Alert (hint: it's not to inform someone in Florida that Kansas has spotted a tornado).
 

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