Why hello Big Brother.

[Guest uofmeet]

Public alerts sent straight to your cell phone.....

Cell Phone Users to Receive Text Alerts About National, Local Emergencies | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

"Carriers can allow subscribers to block all but presidential alerts."

obama's New Campaign source just in time.....

[RobertNashville]

I'm not sure this is a bad idea.

My problem with the government and "cell phones" is the ability to track were you are as well as a history of everywhere you've been in some cases. Living "off the grid" is both looking more attractive AND more difficult to accomplish all the time.

[Guest bkelm18]

I don't really see how this is "big brother". I highly doubt Obama would be using it to send you requests for campaign contributions...

[Guest uofmeet]

My biggest beef is that we don't have the option to opt out of all of it i guess.....and living off the grid does sound like a good idea

[RobertNashville]

I don't really see how this is "big brother". I highly doubt Obama would be using it to send you requests for campaign contributions...

Of course not...he doesn't need them; he's got Tim Geitner (sp?) to cover his re-election campaign expenses.

[mikegideon]

This has been in the works for awhile. They're revamping the entire alerting system. I'm involved in some of it. Nothing bad about it.

[Transplanted Hoosier]

You can opt out....sort of....don't get a cell phone.

[leroy]

Hoosier is right. The only way to solve this "problem" is not to have a cel phone. As mike said; this has been out there quite a while; and the courts have allowed prosecutors and others to use tracking data from phones in court. What you are seeing here is the basic "problem" with technology. If you want "convenience"; there are some strings attached.

Dont want folks to know where ya are goin. Dont take the cel phone. Do like an old buddy of mine used to say about his carousing uncle: "...Leave after dark and return before daylight... Let your commin and goin be a secret...". He was dodging his irate wife and the child support folks. It's a bit tougher to dodge folks today.

leroy

[mikegideon]

The alert thing is text broadcasts. The infomation only flows in one direction. It has nothing to do with the government tracking anybody. Opting out of a cell phone to avoid tornado warnings is crazy.

[enfield]

My cell plan doesn't include text messages - I can't receive nor send them.

Just like the government to figure out how to add to the overload on the cell system during emergencies. Should help the system to go down earlier.

Maybe I can get them to send me a postcard.

PS - Tornado warnings from the government are already sent by radio, and the broadcast stations repeat them. NWS tornado warnings cover large areas and don't contain any specific information.

Skywarn spotters on amateur radio VHF weather nets provide actual tornado sighting information back to NWS. The smart people listen to the local Skywarn weather net during threatening weather, not government broadcasts.

Edited May 11, 2011 by enfield

[mikegideon]

I doubt that you have to be signed up for messaging to get the alerts. Sounds like this will be similar to EAS and broadcasters. The cell carriers will be able to opt out of alerts by category. For example, we filter the stuff from the National Weather Service, and only relay tornado warnings. Sounds like the cell carriers can opt out of everything except an alert from the president, which has never happened in the past. I'm guessing, if the carriers think it will overload the system, they'll just do minimum requirements. Customer complaints will also drive their filter decisions.

Personally, I'm ok with getting tonado warnings out by any means possible. Everything else IMO can get filtered.

[enfield]

I'd still rather have a post card. When there's a tornado warning in my area, I'm kinda busy.

[mikegideon]

I'd still rather have a post card. When there's a tornado warning in my area, I'm kinda busy.

I understand. Fact is, if the cell carriers get a bunch of customer complaints, they'll choke it down anyway. At least Bloomberg got his press conference.

[Guest uofmeet]

PS - Tornado warnings from the government are already sent by radio, and the broadcast stations repeat them. NWS tornado warnings cover large areas and don't contain any specific information.

Skywarn spotters on amateur radio VHF weather nets provide actual tornado sighting information back to NWS. The smart people listen to the local Skywarn weather net during threatening weather, not government broadcasts.

I am on of the spotters, and a Ham....but i just do spotting at my own house. I don't go chasing or anything......When we have our bad weather i would choose ham radio over TV most of the time....besides, i have batteries for radios. power goes out, i loose TV

[mikegideon]

PS - Tornado warnings from the government are already sent by radio, and the broadcast stations repeat them. NWS tornado warnings cover large areas and don't contain any specific information.

.

Just noticed this part. The new Obama FCC doesn't seem to recognize broadcast as a viable means to communicate with the public...

The FCC’s new emergency-alert “PLAN†is all-wireless, no broadcast radio.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the “Personalized Localized Alerting Network†at an event with executives from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and other wireless-industry players. Mayor Bloomberg calls PLAN a “quantum leap forward in using technology to keep people safe.†A poster on the Indiana Board of Radio-Info.com (here) probably speaks for a lot of broadcasters when he says “The administration continues to set an anti-broadcaster tone†and calls it “a slap in the face of broadcasters everywhere, especially in the contexts of current events, when broadcasters were praised during the recent weather disasters in Alabama.†He says “emergency alerts of all kinds need to be given", and Uncle Sam shouldn't ignore broadcasters. You might expect the NAB to vigorously respond to the Chairman Genachowski’s new pet PLAN, and Senior VP Dennis Wharton says “we’re pleased that cellphone carriers plan to live up to their promise to Congress five years ago to implement an emergency alert messaging system.†But he says Alabama proved that “when a cellular network goes down, customers will be unable to access these 90-character warnings.†That’s why he says “there is no communications system that matches the life-saving immediacy of a local broadcast signal.†Of course those stations need to be able to stay on the air themselves - and have a staff that can react.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Just noticed this part. The new Obama FCC doesn't seem to recognize broadcast as a viable means to communicate with the public...

The FCC’s new emergency-alert “PLAN” is all-wireless, no broadcast radio.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced the “Personalized Localized Alerting Network” at an event with executives from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and other wireless-industry players. Mayor Bloomberg calls PLAN a “quantum leap forward in using technology to keep people safe.” A poster on the Indiana Board of Radio-Info.com (here) probably speaks for a lot of broadcasters when he says “The administration continues to set an anti-broadcaster tone” and calls it “a slap in the face of broadcasters everywhere, especially in the contexts of current events, when broadcasters were praised during the recent weather disasters in Alabama.” He says “emergency alerts of all kinds need to be given", and Uncle Sam shouldn't ignore broadcasters. You might expect the NAB to vigorously respond to the Chairman Genachowski’s new pet PLAN, and Senior VP Dennis Wharton says “we’re pleased that cellphone carriers plan to live up to their promise to Congress five years ago to implement an emergency alert messaging system.” But he says Alabama proved that “when a cellular network goes down, customers will be unable to access these 90-character warnings.” That’s why he says “there is no communications system that matches the life-saving immediacy of a local broadcast signal.” Of course those stations need to be able to stay on the air themselves - and have a staff that can react.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the ability to locate on a wireless? Like that thing about the

iphones and Droids that they can download your whereabouts?

Whatever information the government would decide to give us servants would more than likely be

less than timely anyway.

Something else to waste the tax dollar on.

[mikegideon]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the ability to locate on a wireless? Like that thing about the

iphones and Droids that they can download your whereabouts?

Whatever information the government would decide to give us servants would more than likely be

less than timely anyway.

Something else to waste the tax dollar on.

Don't think it's anything but plain old incompetence.

[Il Duce]

you can turn off your location and gps on phones

[mikegideon]

you can turn off your location and gps on phones

Or turn it on for 911 only, which was the default on my older phones

[RobertNashville]

you can turn off your location and gps on phones

Actually, Apple IPhones track you, retain that information and you cannot turn if off (at least that's my understanding...they haven't been all that forthcoming about the specifics or even why they put it in their phones in the first place).

As for other "smart phones", I do not believe that you can do anything to stop yourself from being tracked by your phone if a government (and with the cooperation of the provider(s)) decide to track you; regardless of what is or isn't "turned on". I'm not suggesting that government agents routinely track the general population...just discussing the ability.

[enfield]

Cell phones depend on telephone lines. When trees start falling, phone lines come down. There is no substitute for radio, either broadcast or point-to-point.

It's a misnomer to call cell phone communications 'wireless'. They're only wireless between the phone and the nearest tower and between the tower and the landline switching station.

[RobertNashville]

Cell phones depend on telephone lines. When trees start falling, phone lines come down. There is no substitute for radio, either broadcast or point-to-point.

It's a misnomer to call cell phone communications 'wireless'. They're only wireless between the phone and the nearest tower and between the tower and the landline switching station.

Not all copy machines are made by Xerox but a lot of people call any copy machine they deal with a "Xerox" machine...referring to cell phones and their ilk as "wireless" may not be precisely correct but so long as everyone know what is being discussed (and I think everyone here does know), the difference seems pretty immaterial to me.

[mikegideon]

Cell phones depend on telephone lines. When trees start falling, phone lines come down. There is no substitute for radio, either broadcast or point-to-point.

It's a misnomer to call cell phone communications 'wireless'. They're only wireless between the phone and the nearest tower and between the tower and the landline switching station.

They have to connect to the phone network eventually, but at least in the early days, you had a wired (Bell) and an unwired carrier. The unwired carrier was microvave to the sites. The last disaster I went to, which was S Mississippi after Katrina, most of the cell carriers stayed up. It was overloaded, but it worked. I did have to switch to a local carrier, because Verizon was swamped with relief workers.

With that said, the lifeline for the majority of folks was plain old broadcast radio.

[Guest nicemac]

you can turn off your location and gps on phones

The carrier can triangulate your position during use even if you have that turned off.