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Failures Mark First National Test of Emergency Alert System

Posted by timothy on from the did-not-interrupt-youtube-either dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The first full-scale test of the National Emergency Alert System failed on Tuesday at 2 PM. Some radio and television networks did not air any alert, while the performance of others was inconsistent. 'Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" play during the test. Some Comcast subscribers saw their cable boxes turn to QVC before the alert, while Time Warner Cable customers in New York did not see any alert at all.'" If you were tuned to any American broadcaster at the time, did the alert system reach you?

92 of 451 comments (clear)

  1. Government failure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those words never go together. I am shocked.

    1. Re:Government failure? by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Each failure is an opportunity to learn and improve.

      The real failure would be to not identify failures and not improve - then we'd have to be blasted about it by the sensationalist media, trumpeting how inept government is.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Government failure? by BradleyUffner · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Those words never go together. I am shocked.

      Yeah... except it was the private broadcast companies that failed to properly show the alert not the goverment.

    3. Re:Government failure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have to say, I think an actual failure would be if it were during an emergency.

      As I say at work, this is why we test. Debugging finds bugs. That's kinda what it's for.

    4. Re:Government failure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know what the word "Test" means, right?

    5. Re:Government failure? by neokushan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ^ This

      Testing for something and finding that the test didn't pass is NOT a failure of a system. It's exactly what it said - a test. Now they know where the faults are they can work on fixing them.

      --
      +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
    6. Re:Government failure? by timeOday · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Government negativism has reached a questionable new high. Most often the criticisms are not even quantified (as in this story), not compared to private industry (where possible) (e.g. Social Security fraud), and not compared to historical or global norms. The economy sucks and the public is united only in being unhappy about it, in which they feel some solidarity, yet can't form a consensus on what to do about it.

    7. Re:Government failure? by smpoole7 · · Score: 5, Informative

      >private broadcast companies ... failed ...

      Been waiting for people would say that.

      The engineer at the local PEP (Primary Entry Point) in our state was standing at the transmitter site, watching the equipment, when the test began. He was on the phone with FEMA, as a matter of fact.

      The test never came through. The (FEMA-supplied) equipment never responded. As a result, most of central Alabama never even got the test.

      The failure was on THEIR end, not ours. We had done TWO statewide tests just prior to the national one and they worked fine. Don't blame us, dood. :)

      --
      Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
    8. Re:Government failure? by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Err, Human failure....

      I'm never sure why people like to pile on the government. Like any social organization, and Soylent Green, it's made of people. Just like Citibank screwed itself, Enron self destructed, Goldman Sachs enabled Greece to self-destruct, all governments and companies are made of people.

      One additional thing to add, government employees rarely get high pay (remember that those $600 toilet seats were paid to private contractors). So, you're blaming fallible humans, a group made more likely to be fallible by the fact you don't want to pay (taxes) to hire the best.

    9. Re:Government failure? by quetwo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I was at the PEP in our area. The CAP message that FEMA sent out was coded wrong. They sent out the CAP message using the format they dictated last year, not the newer format dictated this summer. Most of the equipment I know threw out any message it did get, and it simply didn't forward it to any downstreams.

      Those who supported the backup method of the older EAN system, which they were supposed to foward regardless of the CAP messaging did so.

      10136: EAN NATIONAL EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION 'LP 1(L1)'(MI-TXPEP) ORG=PEP
                      'Wed Nov 9 14:03:00 2011 EST' to 'Wed Nov 9 14:18:00 2011 EST'
              Forwarded : 'Wed Nov 9 14:00:34 2011 EST'
                        United States(000000) District of Columbia, DC(011001)

      All in all, in our area, we had 1 TV station, 2 radio stations, and 1 cable system (out of 5) that did any type of notification -- wether it came from IPAWS or EAN. That's a failure in my mind, as we were supposed to have our older EAN system as a backup.

    10. Re:Government failure? by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Testing for something and finding that the test didn't pass is NOT a failure of a system. It's exactly what it said - a test.

      And when the test fails, it is, indeed, a failure of the system as a whole. What was the intended outcome? (A nationwide alert.) Was the outcome achieved? (No.) This is almost a "by definition" kind of concept, you know. You test something and it doesn't work, that means IT FAILED.

      The only way this test didn't fail "because it was a test" is if you think the important operational criterion is the ability to test, not the ability to notify people in an emergency. Or maybe you are confused by the use of the word "test", and are thinking of how when a student takes a test and doesn't pass it doesn't mean the system failed. Well, in this case, the test wasn't applied to students, it was a direct test of the system as a whole and yes, it did, really, overall, fail miserably.

      Now they know where the faults are they can work on fixing them.

      Now they know where some of the faults are and can work on fixing them. If you don't get a successful test of the entire system, then the parts that didn't get tested may still have faults that weren't detected. If a major switch somewhere failed, you can spend a lot of money fixing it and then feel safe, without realizing that every leaf node that it fed would have failed had it gotten the alert.

      There is no question that we are going to need another test, after a significant period of time. And then another. And another. Soon we will be getting tired of the testing and it will take place at 3AM like the regular regional tests already do.

      The important, unasked question is just why do we still need a national alert system? Is there someone out there ready to plop 100 nukes into all our major cities all at once? Unlikely. Would notifying all those people all at once really have much positive effect? We already have localized alerting systems that are tested on a regular basis, and we have better means of distribution -- NOAA weather radio. Do we need to fix this system, or should we just pull the national plug and let the regional ops continue?

      As for the original article mentioning that Comcast switched to QVC before the test message, yeah, so what? That's how the system is designed. It is much easier for a cable system to send the "everyone change to channel X" command downstream instead of trying to insert the alert message into every digital stream. Or insert the alert into one digital stream and then copy it to all the other streams. Of course, the ANALOG channels need to have individual alerts for those people who use analog TVs, but all the digital subs who have digital cable boxes can get by with one channel for the alert.

      I was listening to local AM radio -- not a peep. The news story leading the 11AM (2PM EST) report? "If you can hear me now, the test failed."

    11. Re:Government failure? by RockClimbingFool · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hey, you do know the difference between DEVELOPMENT testing and ACCEPTANCE testing, right?

      The national alert system is a product in development. This was a test to determine what is working and what is not working. You can simulate and test individual pieces all you want, but until you get the opportunity to test the entire system, you have no idea what links in the chain are broken.

      This country is full of fucking idiots that have no clue how engineering is performed. Just keep your misinformation to yourself and stop trying to make those around you dumber.

    12. Re:Government failure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Absolutely right. Heard several comments that the old grey boxes did a better job at decoding the gibberish than the new blue digital boxes. And CAP Compliance, now that's a hoot! Despite the mandate for broadcasters to have CAP compliance by the end of September, the FCC could not even put together the rules for CAP in time, so they just kicked that can into next year. Anyone criticizing broadcasters should note that they have been doing EAS successfully for years, saving lives through tornado warnings, flash flood warnings, and missing child alerts. They only time it was totally screwed up was when it originated from our capital. I believe when the dust settles we will find out that FEMA originated the test badly and set off a chain of events from decoders that did not know what to do with a badly formed audio recording that was passed down from station to station to station to station. Seems to me that in a true national emergency we want the folks in DC protecting our freedom and safety while leaving the warnings to the TV and radio networks. EAS really only makes sense on the local level, not national.

    13. Re:Government failure? by 0-until-pink · · Score: 2

      I'm curious. I work for an American corporation and in any problem that arises that requires collaboration the first priority seems to be proving it's not your fault as quickly as possible.Recent software engineering methodologies try to emphasize that a problem belongs to a team or even to a team of teams but the onus is to get the issue solved not show it's somebody elses problem. Am I wrong? I blame the fact that it's so easy to get fired in the US.

  2. Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by cwgmpls · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tests are supposed to fine failures. That's what they are for.

    1. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by DikSeaCup · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because there's a fiscal penalty for failure when it's found!

      --
      I talk about stuff.
    2. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Under what circumstance would everyone in the nation need to be informed instantly? To warn you the nuclear weapon that's been pointed in your general direction since birth actually launched? That the hurricane we've been watching for over a week is finally going to make landfall? That the [insert party not running the warning button] is holding up some piece of legislation? That someone flew planes into buildings in downtown Manhattan?

      Pretty sure we can live without the national wide warning system for another decade or 100. News of 9/11 spread very rapidly just from word of mouth, flaky internet access and even before everyone older than age 1 had a cellphone. Not to mention the local emergency responders reacted without it as well as the local citizens who were away from ground zero didn't have a panic trample everything in their path reaction.

    3. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by oddjob1244 · · Score: 2

      Tests are supposed to fine failures

      Maybe we could run more "tests" to help balance the budget? =)

    4. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think you understood what he was saying. Hurricanes don't require a NATIONAL alert. Communities affected already receive regional emergency broadcasts. Same goes for tornadoes/earthquakes/etc. It is unlikely in the event of a nuclear/terrorist attack the government would alert the american public, since odds are it will either 1) Do no good and just cause widespread panic and be too late to allow evacuation or 2) Turn out to be a false alert and piss everyone off. Like the other AC, I can't see any actual use for the system. And this is totally ignoring that a radio/television broadcast alert system is going to miss a *LOT* more people than it did even 10 years ago as we move away from those mediums. Colleges have it right: an opt-in text message alert system that warns you of danger no matter where you are.

    5. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by cheater512 · · Score: 2

      Erm a hurricane affects a city or two, at worst a state. Planes flying in to buildings has a even smaller net effect only part of a city.

      Neither need *nation wide* emergency broadcasts.

    6. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by GameboyRMH · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I was wondering what kind of situation could make such a system necessary. When a disaster happens the whole world is watching the news channels and sites within minutes anyways.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    7. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by khallow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think you understood what he was saying.

      I sure did. A national alert system is not only useful for national alerts, but also local ones.

      Like the other AC, I can't see any actual use for the system.

      In the event of a disaster, you're more likely to have a working radio than a working cell phone.

    8. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by omnichad · · Score: 2

      I'm a staff member at a public university. Those signed up for text alerts did NOT receive an EAS-related text yesterday.

    9. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by Locutus · · Score: 3, Interesting

      except fire drills and things like that where they tell you the time it'll occur and even stage evacuations to pass "the test". I once worked at a new facility where strange tripod sensors were all around and we were told to not use certain equipment for the week. It was only much later that I learned those sensors were some kind of environmental sensors required before long term occupation of the building was allowed.

      I agree that properly run tests are supposed to find failures and proper procedures solve the problems found and future tests find other failures if there are any. Ten years after 9/11 and this is just coming about is my question. Remember how the dead hijackers were given visa extensions something like 3 years after the enacted the attacks? I think it was the 2008 election before Bush and his party started talking about immigration issues.

      I think the geeks would be better off relying on their own form of warning system instead of relying on a government operated one. Maybe something tied in with HAM operators and their data passing system. Handhelds and base station radios are not that expensive these days.

      LoB

      --
      "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
    10. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by EdIII · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think the geeks would be better off relying on their own form of warning system

      Yeahhhhhhh..... maybe not.

      I remember the Internet on 9/11. It went basically this way:

      1) IT people talking/screaming with other IT people relating information as it was happening. Information got *slightly* altered from one "hop" to the other.
      2) Mailing Lists and IRC channels on fire with reports about everything from aliens, aliens raping people, mad cow disease attack, the Russians invading on the East Coast, ICBM launch confirmed by a friend at an undisclosed military location, etc.
      3) Screams of, "But I have not gotten laid yet! It's NOT fair!"
      4) Fuck it. Meet me in Everquest. We're taking those bastards down before we die.

      The "Enemy" could not have created a better disinformation system if they tried.

      Facebook? Twitter? ... Farmville? It would be an even more glorious cluster fuck if it happened twice.

    11. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by geekoid · · Score: 2

      No there isn't.
      Failure is a failure. It's a huge complex system that's never been tested.
      The issue seems to have been a software bug.

      Of course, I can't think of a reason we need one anymore.
      What has ever happened that needed everyone in the nation to take immediate action?

      9/11? no. Pearl Harbor? no.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    12. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by smpoole7 · · Score: 2

      > It's a huge complex system that's never been tested.

      Ummm ... no. It has never been tested on a nationwide basis -- that was the purpose of this particular test -- but folks, we've been using EAS for years at the state level and it works just fine. Those of us who set up the systems (I'm a radio engineer) are completely familiar with it, and it's a no-brainer. It's essentially 70's-era technology. (Ever notice how it the intro and extro sound like old dial-up modem tones? That's exactly what they are: they're at a relatively low baud rate, similar to the packet radio that Ham radio operators came up with decades ago.)

      The fact is (forgive me, because I'm very frustrated), the Federal Government could screw up boiling a pot of water. They'd find some way to burn up the pot, or they'd turn on the wrong burner. Why? Because it's all politically-correct committee meetings and long drawn out "planning sessions" and other tommy rot for something that just AIN'T THAT DEEP, people. There are probably dozens (if not hundreds) people here on Slashdot who could design and program a simple encoder/decoder pair for EAS, using the sound card in your computer.

      I normally try to steer clear of the political discussions here, but nothing -- and I repeat, NOTHING -- dismays me more, as an American in his 50's, than the rising number of Government Fanbois nowadays. The Government can do no wrong, we can trust them with everything (including our healthcare) . .. . and they can't even get a simple, nationwide test using 70's-level technology right?

      Give. Stephen. A. Break.

      We (meaning radio and television) are generally credited with saving a lot of lives on April 27th when those horrible tornadoes came through Alabama. I'm VERY proud of that. We were HUMMING. All of us were working together, and we had info on the air as soon as we received it. Bang, bam, "go to your safe place NOW." Local and regional emergency officials triggered the system multiple times. For each, our equipment automatically picked out the correct alerts for our area and we never missed a beat.

      Repeat: THIS IS NOT THAT DEEP. We do it all the time. We're very, very good at it. And why the Federal Government has taken years, and STILL can't figure out how to send out a uniform, nationwide alert signal, is absolutely, utterly baffling to me.

      Now: some decaf, then I'm off to bed. :)

      --
      Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
  3. Spotty by DrgnDancer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was in the car listening to NPR for this. The NPR (WGBH) station did a nice little lead in story and switched smoothly to the test. As soon as it did I started jamming presets and none of the other station I had programmed got the test. Local Alt Rock station, local R&B station, and the other NPR station all failed to broadcast the test as far as I can tell.

    --
    I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
    1. Re:Spotty by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, the government is just being selective about who they save in the event of a catastrophe. Apparently, they believe that we will need NPR listeners in the post-apocalyptic world. Alt Rock and R&B listeners, they think they can do without.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Spotty by jmcharry · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The alert is sent to a primary station in each area and daisy chained to others. WHQR is, I think, third in a chain. The alert hit there at 2:00:39. It got the start and stop "duck farts", but not the message itself. The scuttlebutt is that FEMA messed up the head end audio.

    3. Re:Spotty by Phreakiture · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are different message priorities. I don't remember what the priority levels are called (it's been about eight years since I've been involved in broadcasting), but the options essentially allow some messages to be stored and rebroadcast later (with a limit on how much later). Higher priority messages go out in real-time; lower priority may be discarded.

      The radio station's EAS ENDEC is supposed to manage this for them. In the event of a top-priority message, it just takes over the airwaves in real-time. Middle and lower priority alert the engineer to the situation and let him/her decide when to send the message. If the message is not sent before the time is up, middle-priority messages will seize the transmitter and lower-priority messages will get dropped.

      I would expect this message to have been encoded with the middle option -- store it for up to xx minutes, then take action automatically if the station didn't do so voluntarily. This would result in it going out over different stations at different times, and that would be desired outcome.

      --
      www.wavefront-av.com
    4. Re:Spotty by bennomatic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I was at my computer, with several browser windows and a couple of email clients open. My cell phone was right next to me. When the time came, my Outlook reminder popped up and told me it was time for lunch.

      Too bad these notifications don't reach those of us who don't rely on antiquated broadcast media.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    5. Re:Spotty by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Just remember you can play bluegrass and jazz without electricity. Unlike all rock.

      I dunno..I remember an OLD special on MTV (back when they actually played music)...with Aerosmith Unplugged...one of the first unplugged specials.

      Those guys rocked in acoustic!!

      I had it recorded on VHS back then, I wish to hell I could find that whole 30 min special ( or longer if it exists) out there somewhere either to buy or download.....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    6. Re:Spotty by omnichad · · Score: 2

      What they need to provide is a CAP feed of their EAS alerts. Leave it up to hardware developers how to implement it. Or implement it DIY as well. Can't seem to find any public URL, but apparently this is how they provide the information to broadcasters..

    7. Re:Spotty by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      Seemed to work fine then. The government obviously doesn't want to help people who are out to lunch.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    8. Re:Spotty by choprboy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Came across here at 12:02 MST and the audio stream was screwed up. The audio alerts came thru fine, but the message was extremely faint and unintelligible. About half way thru the 60sec test someone at the radio station cranked the input volume all the way up, horrible high-pitched whine of background noise, but you could at least understand what was being said then. Still, it sounded like trying to tune into a radio station a thousand miles away... The normal monthly tests have never seemed to have that problem.

    9. Re:Spotty by Talisein · · Score: 3, Interesting

      IPAWS has a (just barely out of development AFAIK) private RSS feed that you need a special pin code or something for. It is just for broadcasters. They also have a private SOAP server that you need some X509 certs for to pull public CAPs from (this is a superset of EAS alerts).

      IPAWS eventually will have a public RSS feed for EAS messages, but they don't seem as concerned about making sure that it will be properly provisioned to serve millions of clients hitting it up constantly.

      I'm developing an OSS application to feed IPAWS messages from their SOAP server to a public xmpp server: https://github.com/talisein/Stormee

      Its not really ready for prime time yet, but I should have something that works in a couple weeks.

      --
      "The right to do something does not mean doing it is right." William Safire
  4. Failures, what a surprise... by dstyle5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... because that is exactly what you would expect in a test of such a large system. The real surprise is if it would have worked without any issues on the first go round.

    1. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by PRMan · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They didn't use the last system on 9/11, which was the largest emergency in most of our lives, so who cares?

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    2. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Probably because 9/11 in all actuality was only a threat to a ludicrously, miniscule number of people compared to say... the rest of the country. I wouldn't be surprised if 98% of the country wasn't even slightly, remotely affected by it (ignoring the after side-effects of the shredding of the constitution and soforth).

    3. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by bws111 · · Score: 3, Informative

      The purpose of EAS is to alert people to take action that can save their lives, not to act as a source of breaking news.

      "Incoming missiles! Get to a bomb shelter!" is a valid alert.

      "Planes Hijacked!" is worthless. What action that could have been broadcast on EAS would have saved a single life?

    4. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      His point is...Why DOES such a system matter? Please list one case where this system would be needed. If you say nuclear war then it's too late and your already dead.

      Zombies.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    5. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by unkiereamus · · Score: 2

      What, pray tell, would you have had them broadcast for 9/11?

      The EAS isn't a news service, it isn't meant for "OMG SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED!". The EAS is a method for rapidly disseminating instructions for the safety of the populace, so more along the lines of, "OMG SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED, and this is what you need to do to stay safe."

      The only time I can recall the EAS being activated (And I heard it at the time), was when a tanker car had derailed and was leaking some HazMat, so the EAS was "If you're not in this area, stay away, if you are in this area and inside a building, close your windows and stay put, if you're in this area and not inside a building, either get inside a building or GTFO. Call this number if you experience these symptoms, you will be evacuated as possible."

      What should they have said for 9/11? "If you're in the twin towers, get out"? "Don't let someone hijack your plane"?

      As a final note, 9/11 was in no way shape or form an emergency for me, I was living on the other side of the country, it was a tragedy certainly, but not an emergency.

      --
      I needed a sig so people would know who I am, but I was too drunk to make something witty, so you get this instead.
    6. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by mjr167 · · Score: 2

      In your example, incoming missiles, wouldn't that be a local event, not a national event because only the people in the city being targeted would need shelter? To everyone else, it is not time critical, life saving information.

      I think a lot of people are having trouble thinking up a scenario in which the entire country needs to be notified of an event right this second. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are all local/regional events. They only immediately impact people in the area.

    7. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by dkleinsc · · Score: 2

      There was no point in issuing an alert over the alert system. If you were endangered by 9/11, that was because you were (A) in one of the planes, (B) in the Pentagon or (C) in lower Manhattan. Otherwise, you were in basically no more danger than you are on any other day.

      For the people on the plane, they were dead already, there was absolutely nothing that could be done to save them. Emergency alerts wouldn't have helped.

      For the Pentagon and lower Manhattan, everyone was already doing what they needed to do: If you were a firefighter, you were trying to put out the fire, and rescue people. If you were a policeman, you were trying to rescue people and keep everyone else away. And if you were anyone else, you were getting as far away as you could. Again, emergency alerts wouldn't have helped.

      Also relevant to this situation: One common reaction to a disaster scenario that makes things worse is that a huge number of people call their loved ones in the affected areas. It's completely understandable, but it uses communications resources that might be useful for people who can actually do something to help.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    8. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by dunezone · · Score: 2

      First off, this emergency system should not be used for something like 9/11. The media in its current state could handle the movement of information such as what happened on 9/11. On 9/11 all of Ted Turners stations were switched to CNN. The FOX corporation changed all of their channels to FOX News. Even the shopping networks went off the air and left a message up telling viewers to switch to the news stations.

      This type of system can be useful in something more grand. Such as nuclear explosions in several major cities, a major earthquake, major hurricane, or a major weather system that forms extremely quickly or any event that can take down large amounts of communication systems in a quick moment.. Yes these events are very unlikely to happen but this system is in place because of those scenarios.

    9. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by Electricity+Likes+Me · · Score: 2

      Conventional war starting. The supervolcano under Yellowstone possibly becoming active. Aliens landing. Asteroid threats.

      Hell, even nuclear war matters: sure it sucks, but 10-20 minutes could be the difference between surviving and not.

      Just because major catastrophes haven't happened yet, doesn't mean you shouldn't have a minimal fallback system to deal with them (and the national emergency broadcast system is pretty much the absolute minimum of "unknown threat" preparation you can do).

    10. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by stubob · · Score: 2

      I think that's kind of the point. Eight million people were affected by 9/11. What possible sort of disaster, natural or otherwise, could necessitate notifying everyone from Alaska to Hawaii, California, Texas, Florida, Maine and Minnesota? I can see maybe a huge earthquake needing notification of the entire West Coast, but at that scale, what are the odds that the radio station towers will still be operational?

      --
      Planning to be moderated ± 1: Bad Pun.
    11. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by bws111 · · Score: 2

      Again, what action was appropriate for an alert to urge? Especially an action that would not likely have resulted in more casualties than taking no action.

      You are correct that no-one knew what was going on - which is precisely the reason no alert should be issued. What would you have had them say? Everyone get out of all buildings and stay away from all fields?

      On 9/11 the only thing that was known was that planes were being used as weapons. Based on that, they took the reasonable position of getting the planes out of the sky. There was no need for an EAS to do that, because ATC and pilots are not watching TV and they could be (and were) contacted directly. What action would you have had ordinary citizens take on that day, given what was known then, and even what is known now?

    12. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by geekoid · · Score: 2

      Large scale war, last minutes asteroid. Major shifting of certain water feature could impact all coasts.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    13. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by quetwo · · Score: 2

      UFO attack. Nuclear attack targeting multiple cities. Canadian invasion...

    14. Re:Failures, what a surprise... by IANAAC · · Score: 2

      Probably because 9/11 in all actuality was only a threat to a ludicrously, miniscule number of people compared to say... the rest of the country. I wouldn't be surprised if 98% of the country wasn't even slightly, remotely affected by it (ignoring the after side-effects of the shredding of the constitution and soforth).

      Really?

      Is that why pretty much every major city in the US with a bridge or tall building peed themselves and put their respective cities in some sort of watch/lockdown combination?

  5. Doing it wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    National Journal's Marc Ambinder tweets: FEMA official concedes "glitch"; says that it appears (maybe) to be related to how satellite and cable providers prepped their equipment.

    If your emergency broadcast system requires all cable and satellite providers to "prep" their equipment beforehand, you are doing something fundamentally wrong.

  6. Oblig by 2names · · Score: 5, Funny

    I did not hear a test, but I did see a black cat walk by, then the same cat walked by again.

    --
    "I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
    1. Re:Oblig by blair1q · · Score: 2

      You should have replaced cat 2 with a cat 6, if you have one.

    2. Re:Oblig by TheSpoom · · Score: 2

      I took both at the same time. Oh man, that was a hell of a night.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
  7. FiOS in DC worked without any issues. by gcnaddict · · Score: 3, Interesting

    and from what I heard, FiOS all over the place worked without a hitch. It might have to do with the fact that Verizon's infrastructure was built inside the last decade.

    --
    Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
  8. Lost Channels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The local cable broadcaster here lost approx 10 channels after the test, including CNN, FOX, and DISCOVERY. They all switched to the NAT GEO channel without audio for upwards of an hour after the test ran.

    In addition, the test video was jumpy, kept blacking out, audio kept dropping out, etc.

    All in all, if it had been a real emergency, losing the 2 major news channels would have been real motivation to start loading ammo and supplies and gassing up the bug out mobile. ;)

    1. Re:Lost Channels by Bardwick · · Score: 2

      Paranoid crazy here: Never let your tank go below half. I keep 20 gallons with Sta-bil in the garage. Avoiding spring lock in the magazine, you can half load. There is some debate, but I've not had any issues keeping 25 in a 30 round magazine. Strongly recommend not shooting from your car. Way too freaking loud.

    2. Re:Lost Channels by gknoy · · Score: 2

      Let me reply in a manner less snarky and more constructive than the AC above me did.

      According to people who know better than me:
      http://www.ar15armory.com/forums/Magazine-Spring-fatigue-t94941.html
      http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-116436.html

      Leaving a spring compressed won't do much harm; spring fatigue comes from the act of compressing it. So, as someone said in the first forum thread, "Load 'em up!".

    3. Re:Lost Channels by jafiwam · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What causes fatigue on the magazine spring is tensioning and untensioning the spring. If it's not in motion, it's not wearing. Magazines will need to be replaced over time due to normal metal corrosion, but that's over a different time scale than "loaded with .223 for two years."

  9. Seriously? by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So Time Warner NY failed to implement the national emergency system that we use in the event of an *inbound ICBM attack*? When it had been announced for weeks in advance?

    Curse their sudden but inevitable betrayal.

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
    1. Re:Seriously? by kheldan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ICBM attack

      Seriously: If that happens, you're better off not knowing anyway. At least you won't spend your last few minutes of life scared out of your mind because you know you're going to die in a nuclear firestorm.

      --
      Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    2. Re:Seriously? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Fool! Without that alert, how on earth are you going to talk the closest girl to you into impending disaster sex?

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    3. Re:Seriously? by bennomatic · · Score: 4, Interesting

      LOL. I wonder how many babies were born out of the War of the Worlds radio thing.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
    4. Re:Seriously? by Leebert · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nonsense. Thousands or tens of thousands could be spared secondary effects from the heat and blast wave. Just the simple act of not standing in front of a window can be the difference between a horrible death and surviving relatively unscathed. Surely you've seen this famous picture from Hiroshima: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_patient's_skin_is_burned_in_a_pattern_corresponding_to_the_dark_portions_of_a_kimono_-_NARA_-_519686.jpg

      Yes, if you're sitting at or near the hypocenter, your opinion holds true.

    5. Re:Seriously? by gknoy · · Score: 2

      Hmm ... interesting :D

      Babies conceived in October, 1938 would have been born in the middle of 1939.

      According to this, it doesn't appear to have made much difference.
      http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/datasets/us-births-1936-to-2000/versions/1

  10. Complete waste by bradgoodman · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Like probably 99.99% of america, I was neither watching TV or listening to the radio at 2pm on a weekday afternoon.

    I do have a cell phone on me all the time, and received no alerts on it.

    I can tell you from experience however, that if it were an Amber Alert, I would have been aware of it immediately.

    CONCLUSION: EAS is another complete misguided federal program.

    1. Re:Complete waste by aiken_d · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because any system with a test intentionally scheduled at a time of low disruption is necessarily misguided. I'll let the IT guys know the restore test they were planning for 2am is pointless because I won't be around to notice it.

      --
      If I wanted a sig I would have filled in that stupid box.
    2. Re:Complete waste by bradgoodman · · Score: 2

      I agree. So lets make sure the next natural disaster or nuclear attack happens during prime-time on Sweeps Week, so that way everyone will hear the announcement.

    3. Re:Complete waste by Quirkz · · Score: 2
      Like 75% of America, 2 p.m. Eastern isn't actually 2 p.m. in other time zones.

      In the Mountain time zone it was noon, and I was in my car and on the way to lunch.

      --
      The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  11. Oregon by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2

    My wife was watching her soap, and it didn't happen. I heard almost none of the Western States got the alert.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  12. I don't understand the purpose by iriemon · · Score: 2

    What kind of conceivable emergency would effect the entire country? Nuclear war?

    1. Re:I don't understand the purpose by 0racle · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is also capable of being used locally, NWS uses it like this. This test was simply the first top to bottom national test of the system, this does not mean national alerting is the only function of the system.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:I don't understand the purpose by 0123456 · · Score: 2

      You seemed to have answered you own question. Unless you think nuclear war somehow doesn't affect the entire country.

      You think a massive nuclear war (with whom?) is just suddenly going to happen without any prior warning? About the only possibility I could see would be some kind of computer failure that launched all Russia's remaining nukes, then you'll see it on TV just in time to realise that you're going to die.

    3. Re:I don't understand the purpose by zigmeister · · Score: 2

      The purpose is security theater. When something bad happens they activate the theater (or it doesn't need to be activated, as in a passive system or something that by its very nature is an always on system) and then they point at it and say "see we did something so you can't blame us." Instead of you know, actually improving security.

      Honestly, the best thing for 99% individual normal citizens to do in the event of a threat to the nation, or attack on our borders, cities, military installations, what have you is don't call the police, don't speed, don't get into a car accident, don't rob a bank, don't murder your cheating spouse etc. In other words stay out of the hair of the people actually dealing with security till they sort it out. All this system would do in the event of an attack on NYC or LA is induce massive panic creating more damage...

      --
      Failure formatting five FAQs of financial facts.
  13. Why Not Just by sexconker · · Score: 2

    Why not just use whatever variety of pipes they used to shout about the upcoming test?
    I heard about the upcoming test from at least a dozen different sources, but was completely unaware of it when it actually happened.

  14. Re:and yet the weather alert systems works better by blair1q · · Score: 2

    That's because it's a whole different system that's been tested frequently for 50 years.

    This one is designed to be triggered from a single location, not a number of regional offices, and to ensure that all channels of communication get involved, using minimalist additional infrastructure, as modern budgets don't look like cold-war "do it all the way or we're speaking rooskie in a week" budgets.

  15. Damn straight! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We should leave emergency notifications to the free markets! You want to know about disasters and what to do? Well, just subscribe to a disaster notification service. I'm AT&T or your cable companies will provide that service as part of a package of some sort. And we all know what superior service cable companies have over pathetic government!

    1. Re:Damn straight! by sorak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We should leave emergency notifications to the free markets! You want to know about disasters and what to do? Well, just subscribe to a disaster notification service. I'm AT&T or your cable companies will provide that service as part of a package of some sort. And we all know what superior service cable companies have over pathetic government!

      We already do! There is no law preventing any organization from creating such a service. Our options are "free market and government" or "free market only"...Sorry for posting a serious reply to satirical comment, but one of my pet peeves is when the government steps in to solve a problem and conservatives reply "the free market would have done it faster/better/cheaper".

      No, they wouldn't have, and they didn't. That's why the problem existed.

    2. Re:Damn straight! by riverat1 · · Score: 2

      Where's the mod for "Brilliantly sarcastic"?

  16. Dentist by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was at the Dentists and one of my fillings started broardcasting the alert.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  17. TiVo completely overridden by kheldan · · Score: 2

    I have a HD TiVo, and it was completely and totally on override during the test. Wouldn't respond to any of the buttons at all, not even the TiVo button itself. Somewhat unsettling.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
    1. Re:TiVo completely overridden by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      Remember when we used to buy things and we actually owned them? I'm fine with broadcasting the message on all channels, but dont subvert control of my hardware.

      --
      Good-bye
  18. Cox Communications by ClayJar · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was watching the test on a friend's Cox Communications cable service, and they also switch to a shopping channel (cable channel 8) for emergency alert activations. Their cable system apparently is incapable of showing the alert on all the (digital?) channels, so they simply show it over analog shopping channel 8 and have a system in place to switch everyone to that channel automatically whenever an alert is triggered. It's a bit annoying if a test is scheduled during, say, an important football game... er... episode of Mythbusters... whatever. On the other hand, it is even more jarring than the alert tones, so you'll certainly know something's afoot.

    If you have one of their Motorola digital cable boxes, when it goes into emergency alert mode and auto-switches to analog shopping channel 8 for the message, the front clock display changes to "EAS" as well. If you're suddenly watching the shopping channel and "EAS" is displayed on the cable box *and* you have the wonderfully annoying (and intentionally so) alert tones, you *should* be able to figure out that now's the time to read or listen. At least, that seems to be the general idea.

    I did notice that I didn't get the alert over cable until after I'd finished watching it on OTA TV (and chatting about it afterward), so chalk up a minute or two of additional latency to the cable company.

    1. Re:Cox Communications by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      I was watching the test on a friend's Cox Communications cable service, and they also switch to a shopping channel (cable channel 8) for emergency alert activations. Their cable system apparently is incapable of showing the alert on all the (digital?) channels, so they simply show it over analog shopping channel 8 and have a system in place to switch everyone to that channel automatically whenever an alert is triggered. It's a bit annoying if a test is scheduled during, say, an important football game... er... episode of Mythbusters... whatever. On the other hand, it is even more jarring than the alert tones, so you'll certainly know something's afoot.

      If you have one of their Motorola digital cable boxes, when it goes into emergency alert mode and auto-switches to analog shopping channel 8 for the message, the front clock display changes to "EAS" as well. If you're suddenly watching the shopping channel and "EAS" is displayed on the cable box *and* you have the wonderfully annoying (and intentionally so) alert tones, you *should* be able to figure out that now's the time to read or listen. At least, that seems to be the general idea.

      I did notice that I didn't get the alert over cable until after I'd finished watching it on OTA TV (and chatting about it afterward), so chalk up a minute or two of additional latency to the cable company.

      All cableboxes must work this way.

      If it's a newer "digital EAS", then the cablebox can decode it and display it, overlaying the programming in the background with the alert.

      If it's the ancient analog system, then when the cablebox gets the signal, it MUST switch to the channel indicated to display the EAS alert.

      This happens regardless of what cablebox you use - be it cable DVR, TiVo, Moxi, etc. It's part of the regulations that they have to do it, depending on the system in use.

      Which one is in use depends on your provider and area (some providers have areas where one is predominant).

      The analog ones suck though as they cancel recordings in most cases (dumb DVRs may continue recording the EAS channel...), whilst the digital ones only show up in the live output and never in the recorded video.

  19. Your conclusion does not fit the facts. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Millions heard it.
    2. Using all communication methods to broadcast a message of national urgency is hardly misguided. It's a common sense idea.
    3. They'll add other methods soon enough.

  20. Re:Don't watch TV by Ephemeriis · · Score: 2

    That's kind of what I was thinking when I heard about this test.

    I consume less and less broadcast media - be it television or radio - every day.

    Unless I just happened to be driving somewhere in a car at the time of the emergency, I simply wouldn't hear the warning.

    --
    "Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
  21. Terrible news by uncanny · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" play during the test.

    The terrorists have won

  22. Re:All I saw during the test was... by wierd_w · · Score: 2

    Really? All I got was rick astley on every channel....

    Does that constitute a national emergency?

  23. EAS Shows Linux Login Prompt by xquercus · · Score: 2

    Time Warner analog broadcast the alert about a minute after it completed on our local NPR affiliates. For about 5 seconds before the alert the TV displayed a Linux command prompt at login. I used to see this screen appear late at night occasionally when using the set top box on the other TV. The set top box would display "EAS" instead of a channel number and a login screen would be displayed for a couple minutes. There was some sort of identifiable brand name on the login screen and at one time I looked it up on google. Sure enough, it's a company that sells computer hardware and software for interfacing with EAS -- apparently linux based. Just kind of interesting.

  24. Even better by publiclurker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the could have different warning tiers. for the Platinum level, you get a full 30 minutes warning. For the common folk, we have bronze with 30 seconds.