Slashdot Mirror
The Tech Failings of Hawaii's Missile Alert
Over the weekend, Hawaii incorrectly warned citizens of a missile attack via their phones. According to The Washington Post, the error was a result of a staffer picking the wrong option -- missile alert instead of test missile alert -- from a drop down software menu. Hawaiian officials say they have already changed protocols to avoid a repeat of the scenario. The report goes on to add: Part of what worsened the situation Saturday was that there was no system in place at the state emergency agency for correcting the error, HEMA (Hawaii Emergency Management Agency) spokesman Richard Rapoza said. The state agency had standing permission through FEMA to use civil warning systems to send out the missile alert -- but not to send out a subsequent false alarm alert, he said. Though the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency posted a follow-up tweet at 8:20 a.m. saying there was "NO missile threat," it wouldn't be until 8:45 a.m. that a subsequent cellphone alert was sent telling people to stand down. Motherboard notes that new regulations require telecom companies to offer a testing system for local and state alert originators, but because of lobbying by Verizon and CTIA, this specific regulation does not go into effect until March 2019.
In a piece, The Atlantic argues that the 90-character messages sent by the system aren't suited to the way we use our devices.
In a piece, The Atlantic argues that the 90-character messages sent by the system aren't suited to the way we use our devices.
You need a mechanical physical switch with a switch guard. The very fact that an actual alert would be triggered by a menu item, indicates a completely incompetent design. I seldom call for people's jobs, but I'll make an exception in this case..
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
They need to add some AI:
"Hi, I'm Clippy! Are you sure you want to send a missile alert?"
"No, Clippy"
"OK then, launching missiles".
Sorta like how a common utility function often used is right next to "delete". Drift a few pixels over and *poof*, gone!
Hey UI devs, just because you're having a shitty day doesn't me the rest of us deserve it too.
Life is not for the lazy.
Seriously, contact all the major TV and radio stations in the area first. The expectation that everyone should get critical information from "social" media is a joke.
No, you're wrong. UI design plays a major role in the correct operation of a system. Very few people in my experience are detail-oriented people, and even the ones who are still make predictable mistakes. The system must account for how real people actually behave. To do otherwise is bad system design. Looks like this was just a test of connectivity. I don't know why they didn't automate the test (send a test file once every 8 hours, write in the log that it got sent, and write in the log that a confirmation came back, then have another job that looks for those log entries in the appropriate time range and alerts the operators if it didn't work). Yes, you still need to manually test, but not as often. In a case like this, there should be a prior action required to "arm" any of the "real" messages, so there's two different processes that you won't mix up. A generic "are you sure" query isn't good enough because it's the same message whether you picked a real message or a test message. Muscle memory kicks in and you just click Yes, after all that's what you did the last several hundred times.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Everyone is talking about bad UI, and they are right, but isn't the bigger problem that this is all being tested in production? Why does the "test missle alert" option even exist in production -- that should be in a sub-prod system that isn't actually connected. Maybe it has something to do with how the EBS works but seems ridiculous to me to even have those two options in the same system.
Seriously, contact all the major TV and radio stations in the area first.
Which should take some time, unlike sending a tweet on an account already owned by the emergency center.
Also, the contacting of TV and Radio station might be hampered by people actually attempting to follow the instruction of the previous wrong alert.
Though most TV and Radio crew might wonder how come there's an alert about a missile attack on their *phones* while, at the same time they do not receive a full list of information that they have to broadcast immediately to the population while interrupting the normal programming.
So, while the HEMA guys are heading for the simplest thing to do to communicate information (blasting it on accounts that they actually own, like Twitter), the TV and Radio station should be the one trying to contact HEMA to understand why they weren't asked to broadcast any emergency information (it might have been an error like in this case. Or in the alternative case of an actual live attack, the general population might be missing critical information that the Radio should have been broadcasting and that got stuck somewhere in the process).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The UX probably already asks if you are sure you want to send something.
Ah, the old AC favorite - I'll just make some facts up which I assume are true.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
Is it because we put art majors in charge of UI design? Is that it?
Could be.
I've almost given up on pushing back on UI design.
Their two overriding and incompatible drives are to 1. hide complexity and 2. make things super easy.
The result is that it's super easy to do things that you don't understand.
You're right. If I had mod points, I'd give you a bump. Your insight that the blessing here outweighs the cost is one I haven't seen given enough attention. Fresh eyes will be looking at how the process should work to prevent mistakes and that's a good thing. Likely they'll find other areas that need improvement.
Using a system intended for conveniently notifying the public with information to instead notify the public of an emergency is a dangerous mistake, one of which they're now aware. Finding out that the public doesn't know how to respond is priceless information that they have now. The guy who clicked the wrong menu option may not deserve a medal, but put him on the committee determining how to fix the system and plan responses. Redemption is a strong motivator.
Now the public knows that they need a response plan for such an emergency. Having public pressure to get prepared is perhaps the greatest thing that could happen. People trying to get the public prepared would have been frustrated before this, but now they'll have the public on their side. That's the kind of thing that makes budgets happen.
B) Eliminate all the stupid users. This is frowned upon by society.
While it was certainly a bone headed mistake, it was one what was easily possible for someone in a hurry. As this fellow was just wrapping up his shift, he was clearly trying to get everything done in time.
It this was indeed the setup the mistake was idiotic programming and software design. The end user screwing it up was entirely predictable and probably inevitable. The problem occurred when the system was designed. If a system can fail because of the design, it almost certainly will fail sooner or later.
Part of my day job is to write work instructions and design procedures. When something goes wrong the first question I have to ask is "what did I do wrong", NOT "who screwed up"? 90+% of the time the problem was unclear/wrong/misleading instructions, a badly designed process, or some other problem where the person tasked with carrying out the instructions was set up to fail. In other words, my fault. We as engineers tend to take too little responsibility for our own failures and blame user error when in fact the error was a badly designed program or procedure. We tend to think we are the smartest people in the room and while that may be true sometimes it doesn't mean we are perfect.
I really hope North Korean UI designers made a separate button for "Wipe Seoul Off the Face of the Earth" and "Test Wipe Seoul Off the Face of the Earth"
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
No single person can be blamed for that, however.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Classically, you have to break a piece of glass or at the very least turn a key to trigger something like this. The UI design bears all of the blame here. It was asking for something like this to happen. It is absolutely no surprise it happened. The ones at fault are the ones that did design this broken UI and the ones that signed off on it. These should at the very least lose their jobs and probably face criminal penalty, because negligence does not get any more gross than this.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.