Cellphones Across the US Will Receive a 'Presidential Alert' at 2:18 pm Eastern Today (nytimes.com)

At 2:18 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, cellphones across the United States will emit the ominous ring of an emergency presidential alert. From a report: It will be the first nationwide test of a wireless emergency alert system, designed to warn people of a dire threat, like a terror attack, pandemic or natural disaster. There is no opting out, which has already prompted a lawsuit. "THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System," it will read. "No action is needed." Two minutes later, televisions and radios will show test alerts. There is no notification plan for landlines. Officials say they believe that the wireless test will reach about 75 percent of the cellphones in the country, though they hope the number is higher. It could take up to 30 minutes for the alerts to be transmitted to all devices.

Some things that could interfere: ongoing phone calls or data transmission, a device that is turned off or out of range, and smaller cellphone providers that are not participating in the program. The test, originally planned for last month but delayed by Hurricane Florence, is the culmination of many years of work. The federal government developed a system to issue the alerts, which are scripted in coordination with numerous government agencies. They are limited to 90 characters, but will be expanded to 360 in the future. The Communications Act of 1934 gives the president the power to use communications systems in case of an emergency, and a 2006 law called for the Federal Communications Commission to work with the wireless industry to transmit such messages.

Comments

How will they know?

[Anonymous Coward]

Officials say they believe that the wireless test will reach about 75 percent of the cellphones in the country, though they hope the number is higher.

How do they plan to measure this number? That worries me WAY more than the fact that we get an alert. Is there some process built into phone software and.or the cell network that will report this, and if so what else can it report regarding my activity?

Remember when....

[EvilSS]

Remember when in 2006 the law was updated every was certain Bush would use to spam their cellphones with unblockable political spam? Then when cell companies started turning on the feature, how Obama was certain to use it for political spam?

Don't disappoint me /. Keep the dream alive!

Concentrated power instead of checks and balances

[Cajun Hell]

The saddest part of all that is that while I expect liberals to maybe disagree (or at least be ambivalent) about that, I sure as fuck expect conservatives to be 100% behind your statement without the slightest hesitation. IMHO it's the very core of conservativism, moreso than even "low taxes" or "states' rights." It's right up there with preferring free markets over central planning, since it's a variant of the same underlying idea: mistrust of power, fear of arrogant power.

But Republicans disagree with you, and worse, they disagree even more than Democrats do. It's one of the reasons (among several, especially since 2016) I'd plot 'em as being left of Democrats.

You know what grinds my gears? When Republicans say they're conservative. That's just a plain lie. Republicans, stop fucking lying about being right-wing. You're not. If you were right-wing, you'd either be voting Libertarian or Democrat. Embrace your radical liberalism, Republicans. Come out of the closet. I guarantee that Democrats will let you use "their" bathroom.

Re:This is a test?

[aquacrayfish]

Oh please, he insults victims of assault and attacks gold star families, and you think he wouldn't survive a simple picture?