Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK mobile phones
A siren-like alert will be sent to mobile phone users across the UK next month to test a new government public warning system.
It allows the government and emergency services to send urgent messages warning the public of life-threatening situations like flooding or wildfires.
The test is expected to take place in the early evening of 23 April.
Phone users will have to acknowledge the alert before they can use other features on their devices.
This idea was floated a while ago and it's not difficult to see where it is likely to go. The coronavirus debacle also tells us that many people will think it is a good idea and those who differ will be ignored.
It's remarkable how far the health and safety game has developed over a few decades. Maybe we'll be treated to a siren-like alert when a Net Zero power cut is about to occur.
13 comments:
"Phone users will have to acknowledge the alert before they can use other features on their devices."
That's the government version of "optional".
And how is this going to work on my old "Dumb" phone? It has no loud speaker or vibrating alert function. I suppose they can send me a text message, but I fail to see how features my phone doesn't have will be inhibited if I fail to reply...
Jannie - that's right - they mean having a phone is optional.
Dave - as well as my main phone, I also have one of those old "dumb" phones and I expect it to be as immune as yours. Could become fashionable.
Apart from nuclear attack, I'm wondering what major alert could possibly affect everyone in the UK. Storm warnings and flood alerts are local, rarely affecting more than half the country.
I'm hoping for a scenario like the "War of the Worlds" panic in America, with people heading for the hills or barricading themselves in their kitchens.
Every now and again the service provider for my dumb phone sends me a text warning that it will cut me off if I don't make a phone call.
My GP sends me links that, as far as I know, I can't use.
Mainly I keep it so that my wife can phone me on the rare occasions when we're both out but at different places.
Sam - I think it's just an extension of our alarm culture and a foot in the door for taking more direct control of phones in the longer term.
dearieme - I used to receive unusable links on my old phone. It still has some advantages over my smartphone such as size, weight and battery life.
Meanwhile file under predictable surprise.
a) How many people will have a heart attack when this goes off, or will fumble for their phone when bustling down the A road at 70 ( Note its set to go off even if your phone is on silent)
b) Incentives matter- how many people will be incentivised to "jailbreak" their phones and run an OS that removes most of the spyware the PTB seem desperate to misuse.
Nessimmersion - the heart attack at 70mph ought to be a major reason to hold back and it's one they will certainly have thought of. In other words they don't care unless it adversely affects the project.
The first and only time I've encountered these emergency alerts, I was in Corfu with the wife during the first days of the Ukraine war.
Both our phones went off at once and made a right racket. I swear I though a nuclear war had started, and I was out of my seat looking for somwhere for us to shelter, before I realised it was just for a coming thunderstorm
Storms are pretty spectacular in Corfu, but it was no reason to frit the shit out of me like that. The Mrs was giggling at me for the next couple of days
Bucko - that bothers me, apart from privacy aspect. A siren going off while I'm driving doesn't appeal.
A K Haart - Thinking of it that way, you could be up a ladder, handling something fragile or any number of dangerous things. I take it mobiles aren't allowed in operating theatres. And the racket in a regular theatre would be horrendous
Bucko - that's it, the more you think about it the worse it becomes. Slicing vegetables with a sharp knife, chopping wood, picking up a young child, lifting a heavy weight. Yes - the list is endless.
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