Online media like Netflix, Spotify, and more may soon display emergency alerts. Two Senators, one from Hawaii and one from South Dakota, introduced a bill called the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI).
[PSA: iPhone Users Are Getting Creepy Emergency Alerts in Virginia]
Emergency Alerts
Since we spend so much time on these services, should they help to spread emergency alerts? I personally think so, and so do these Senators. We can already get them via our iPhones, but you can turn them off in settings. The bill wants to change that too.
However, like Techcrunch points out:
I still have the same hesitations I had at the time. After the recent false alarms and ensuing panic, it’s clear that any such system needs to be rock solid from a security standpoint — one missed bug or exploit and half the country is freaking out about non-existent incoming missiles…
Other things in the bill:
- Not letting smartphone users disable federal alerts
- Building a better system for reporting false alarms
- Updating the current system to prevent false alarms better and to more easily retract them
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.
I know it’s paranoid and yet, consider this. What if an autocratic leaning government wanted to instill fear in the citizenry and even worse, could block all communications with a looped alert. Having a system wherein any government, any entity (corporation, hacker, ISP), has the ability to prevent disabling the alert system on our mobile phones seems a bad idea.