Doesn't this new emergency alert system discriminate against the poor and the elderly and anyone unlikely to have a cell phone, leaving them out of the loop?
Yes, it does.
If you don't have a cell phone, you're obviously out of luck when it comes to receiving potentially life-saving information via the new system.
From the New York Daily News:
Emergency officials will soon be able to blast critical alerts to anyone with a cell phone in a certain section of the city.
If Times Square needs to be evacuated because of a bomb threat or if a hurricane is bearing down on Queens, warnings will be bounced from cell towers.
"Making sure that [people] get useful and life-saving information, quickly and easily, right on their mobile phones, will help more people get out of harm's way when a threat exists," said Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator W. Craig Fugate.
The system - called PLAN or Personal Localized Alerting Network - uses cell phone towers to send messages to everyone currently in a certain area, regardless of whether they're visiting from out of town or have a phone registered elsewhere. People won't have to register in advance to receive the alerts.
The messages, including urgent blasts from the President, information on imminent threats and Amber Alerts about missing children, will supercede all other phone traffic so they won't be stalled or delayed.
FEMA's Fugate and Federal Communications Commissioner Chair Julius Genachowski plan to announce the new system at the World Trade Center site Tuesday in a press conference with Mayor Bloomberg and top phone company execs.
They system is expected to be up and running in New York and Washington by the end of the year - months before the rest of the country.
The government is taking over your cell phone.
The messages, including urgent blasts from the President, information on imminent threats and Amber Alerts about missing children, will supercede all other phone traffic so they won't be stalled or delayed.
I don't like the sound of that.
In sum, if you have a cell phone, the government will control it.
Forget about that very important call you're waiting for. Obama has an "urgent blast" that's more important. The government is in charge.
If you don't have a cell phone, good night and good luck when it comes to receiving emergency alerts.
PLAN doesn't care about the poor and the phoneless.
Mayor Bloomberg called the alerts a "quantum leap forward in using technology to help keep people safe."
Some technological "quantum leaps" are better left not leapt.
At the very least, you should always look before you leap.
2 comments:
As a society (particularly younger people who have grown up with computer/cell phone technology), we too easily give up our privacy and freedom. I think many just simply feel it's a reasonable price to pay for all of the benefits of connectivity. These types of stories make me uneasy. What happens when the government doesn't just use these powers for "emergencies", but marketing of their agenda and other propaganda? Sometimes I feel like i'm being paranoid...but it really won't shock me if/when this happens.
What's weird about this is the "urgent blasts from the president."
I don't think the Leftists would have approved if a new alert system would have included "urgent blasts" from President Bush.
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