Facebook 'Safety Check' Lets Friends Know You're OK After a Major Disaster

rtoz (2530056) writes Facebook has launched a new Tool called "Safety Check." The Facebook Safety Check tool will notify your friends so that they know you're OK after a major disaster. In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates. "During a major disaster, Safety Check will help you: Let friends and family know you're safe; Check on others in the affected area; Mark your friends as safe ... When the tool is activated after a natural disaster and if you're in the affected area, you'll receive a Facebook notification asking if you're safe. [Facebook] will determine your location by looking at the city you have listed in your profile, your last location if you've opted in to the Nearby Friends product, and the city where you are using the internet. ... If you're safe, you can select "I'm Safe" and a notification and News Feed story will be generated with your update. Your friends can also mark you as safe." More creepy, or more reassuring?

Comments

Would sooner have a Dislike button than this

[haruchai]

How fucking hard is that.

yeah, going with not creepy.

[Sowelu]

For the audience this is aimed at (which isn't most slashdotters), definitely reassuring. Facebook has a *huge* base of people who just use it to keep in touch with family's lives, and the ability to mark Grandma as okay even if her internet is down is pretty appealing.

Also good for antisocial people, you can avoid being bothered by a flood of people who are just checking up.

Re:yeah, going with not creepy.

[Obfuscant]

and the ability to mark Grandma as okay even if her internet is down is pretty appealing.

The Internet will be one of the first things to go down in a disaster. The fact that Grandma hasn't told Facebook she's ok because she can't get to Facebook will only scare Grandma's relatives. Same for Grandpa, Pa, Ma, Jr., Missie, etc. This will drive an overload of existing resources as panicky people outside the area try even harder to reach in to find out loved ones status', because my goodness if they haven't said they're ok using this app, they are probably not.

In other words, the existence of this "feature" will become like email -- assumed to be 100% reliable and fast, and if someone hasn't clicked the "I'm OK" button the assumption won't be "the internet is down and they can't, be patient", it will be "they're dead and cannot click a simple button. Panic!"

Re:yeah, going with not creepy.

[BarbaraHudson]

and the ability to mark Grandma as okay even if her internet is down

Neither RFC 1149 - IP over Avian Carriers nor RFC 2549 - IP over Avian Carriers with QoS protocol are implemented by my local carrier pigeon, you ignorant clod!

Re:yeah, going with not creepy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Countdown before we have the first 911 caller because "they didn't say they were OK on Facebook!"

Oh Noes

[pipingguy]

What if the disaster is that Facebook is down?

Re:Oh Noes

[BarbaraHudson]

What if the disaster is that Facebook is down?

You have a strange definition of disaster, friend :-)

Disaster:

• 1. a sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe, that causes great damage or loss of life.
• 2. denoting a genre of films that use natural or accidental catastrophe as the mainspring of plot and setting.
• 3. an event or fact that has unfortunate consequences.

The term you are looking for is "fortuitous"

• 1. happening by accident or chance rather than design.
• 2. happening by a lucky chance; fortunate.

Would have loved this in 2005 in London

[mahju]

I lived in London in 2005 when the terror attacks happened there, and my morning commute took me through kings cross. That day with the mobile network switched off, it was hard to let people know I was ok, know if my girlfriend was, and many other people I knew took. Sure there was landlines to call direct if you knew where people were, or email as a bit of a broadcast I'm ok, but something like this would have been far better.

Re:Would have loved this in 2005 in London

[Obfuscant]

That day with the mobile network switched off, it was hard to let people know I was ok, ... but something like this would have been far better.

So you'd use the mobile network to contact Facebook to let everyone else know ... umm, wait. What mobile network? And you'd use the shut-off mobile network to check FB to see if your girlfriend had used the same shut-off mobile network to let FB know she was ok.

Here's an idea. Prior to any disaster, plan. Pick someone in a different area that y'all who live in the same area can text with your info, and then y'all can use SMS to let everyone know you're ok. SMS is most likely to survive a disaster, much more than voice or data.

Re:Buried under rubble

[Anonymous Coward]

my guess is, to limit liability, that you can only choose 'safe'; like you can only choose to 'like' something. having a 'not safe' option opens facebook up to liability if they do not notify authorities of someone that they know is not safe and has the usual privacy implications if they do tell 3rd parties about you. not to forget the flood of activity and rumors that will spread like wildfires in california if the site posts someone as being 'not safe' after a disaster.

This is the only time I use Facebook

[mspohr]

Have had family members in NZ earthquake and a few other misc disasters. Facebook was the best way to find out if they were ok.

Re:How is it creepy?

[Anonymous Coward]

ISTM that panicky mothers would *love* this...

Creepy? Who, us?

Rest assured we will not release this data. After all, we don't release or sell any of your other data. Don't be alarmed that the largest human database in the world will start tracking all those infected, sick, or in trouble in some way using this "feature", building a hot-spot map for the CDC and the like (can you say targeted medical ads?).

Don't worry though. Your Obamacare personalized health care plan rates won't go up much. And we won't sell this information to potential employers as a nefarious way to discriminate against those who might abuse medical benefits.

We pinky promise.