Fake 'Inbound Missile' Alert Sent To Every Cellphone in Hawaii (chicagotribune.com)

"Somebody sent out a false emergency alert to all cell phones in Hawaii saying, 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'," writes Slashdot reader flopwich, adding "Somebody's had better days at work." The Associated Press reports: In a conciliatory news conference later in the day, Hawaii officials apologized for the mistake and vowed to ensure it will never happen again. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator Vern Miyagi said the error happened when someone hit the wrong button. "We made a mistake," said Miyagi. For nearly 40 minutes, it seemed like the world was about to end in Hawaii, an island paradise already jittery over the threat of nuclear-tipped missiles from North Korea...

On the H-3, a major highway north of Honolulu, vehicles sat empty after drivers left them to run to a nearby tunnel after the alert showed up, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Workers at a golf club huddled in a kitchen fearing the worst... The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted there was no threat about 10 minutes after the initial alert, but that didn't reach people who aren't on the social media platform. A revised alert informing of the "false alarm" didn't reach cellphones until 38 minutes later, according to the time stamp on images people shared on social media.

Comments

Why did it take 40 minutes to correct?

[93 Escort Wagon]

This message ostensibly was sent to every cell phone in Hawaii - didn't the guy who "pushed the wrong button" get the alert as well?

And seriously - their first thought when sending out a correction was a Tweet? Don't they have the ability to send an "all clear" over the same channel they sent the "LOOK OUT YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!!!" message?

Re:Why did it take 40 minutes to correct?

[Pseudonym]

Given the history of the Cold War, it's a little disturbing that they didn't have a "sorry, that was a false alarm" message already formally prepared.

Real not fake...mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

It wasn't a "fake alert" it was a real alert from the real Agency empowered to issue them, that's way worse than a "fake" one.

It was a mistake... That's not the same as being "fake", words matter. Editor's please take some English classes before posting any more.

Re:Real not fake...mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

English usage nowadays is worse than malapropisms. People are laughed at for using rarely used synonyms ("LOL, look at this Thesaurus guy").

I hate every bit of Western culture that elevates so called "common" man. I want to live in a world where people need to have some kind of exam before getting access to the Internet, before that stupid Eternal September thing.

I miss classes. Not classes at school. Classes in Marxist definition. I want to receive a formal acknowledgement for being a Ph.D. from plumbers and waiters. I want them to take of their stupid baseball hats when they see me while I respond with dismissive acknowledgment of their existence.

I hate egalitarianism. I am not equal to you, dumbass that was flanking high school just few years ago.

No sarcasm. I am tired living in a consumer society.

I miss people who knew the difference between “of” and “off,” and who bothered to check their writing BEFORE posting remarks about how much fucking better they are than everyone else for allegedly having been awarded a “Piled higher and Deeper” degree.

Having memorized by rote other people’s ideas doesn’t make you any “better,” than other people, you fucking snob, so on behalf of all the plumbers and waiters of the world, all of whom are more useful than you, you can take your hoist-toity little degree, and shove it up your hoity-toity little ass.

Not much of a timeline

[SuperKendall]

Although interesting to see what happened after "the wrong button was pressed", I would still love to know more about how such a terribly incorrect action could be triggered so easily with no outside verification. Like the governor doesn't even get one minute to verify and cancel a state-wide alert?

I know time is of the essence in these things but it just seems crazy a shift change could trigger this, and in a way crazier that if that was possible, it never happened before. It seems pretty obvious something must have changed recently to allow this to happen, what was that?

Re:State Exercise?

[Ol Olsoc]

Scaring the crap out of everyone is considered "a state exercise?"

It was a mistake by state officials, plain and simple.

My interst is that I would want to know where the thing is aimed for, so I could stand a few miles away and enjoy the show. Radiation poisioning isn't pretty, and to actually witness the explosion, then get quickly incinerated seems like the ticket. Google Hiroshi Ouchi - but only if you have a very strong stomach. Ouchi and another fellow were pouring Uranyl Nitrate solution into a container, and for some reason poured 16 Kilograms worth of Uranium into a vessel that was only supposed to have 2.4, and there went the pretty blue flash that announced to them that they had a criticality. Ouchi caught 17 freaking sieverts of radiation, when 8 is likely to kill ya. His buddy Shinohara experienced 10 sieverts. They ded. For some reason the powers that be did everything possible to keep him alive, possibly to save face, but the combination of having no more skin, losing incredible amounts of bodily fluids - one day over 20 Kg, and organ failure. 83 friction days of nuclear provided happieness, as you can see by his last photo. But once again, don't look if you are sensitive - it looks like something from a horror movie.

Which is why my popcorn and tequila party to witness the event and check out before I turn into Mr Ouchi is much more appealing. And if it is a fake or a mistake, at least we had a fun party.

Re: I was there...

[hey!]

The closest Hiroshima survivor was in a cellar only 300 m from ground zero -- which is very close when you consider that the bomb was detonated at 500 m altitude.

Now the device North Korea tested back in September was 10x to 20x more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, but still if a bomb were detonated over Pearl Harbor and you were standing on the beach in Waikiki, you'd almost certainly survive, albeit possibly with thermal burns.

Here's the thing about all that Duck and Cover stuff from the 50s: when you're talking about a handful of bombs distributed over the entire country, diving under a picnic blanket actually makes sense. It wont' help you if you're at ground zero, but if you're five miles away or so it could make the difference between surviving uninjured or requiring hospital treatment. Multiply that by tens of thousands of people, and duck and cover type education is a sensible defensive strategy.

There is, however, a simple counter: attack with a lot more warheads. By the early 70s the Soviets had something like 25,000 of them. An all-out attack would not only result in multiple bombs falling on every city, it would guarantee the collapse of American society and a short and hellish existence for anyone unlucky enough to survive. Fatalism makes sense in that scenario. You might as well enjoy the show for a few hundred milliseconds and then die.

That's not where we are with a North Korean nuclear attack, not by a long shot. North Korea's arsenal is not large enough yet to cause the collapse of American society, or even to kill the majority of people in a city like Honolulu. So maybe we should be dusting off those old civil defense films.

Re:The government shouldn't have everyone's number

[Anonymous Coward]

you don't need everyones number for these sort of broadcast alerts, hell your phone doesn't even have to be connected, as long as it can receive the broadcast towers signal it should display the alert.