5 ms·

The part you mention I was aware of and am actually thankful for. This, at least to me, goes much further. Hence the shock. Updated my post w/more details so it

The part you mention I was aware of and am actually thankful for. This, at least to me, goes much further. Hence the shock. Updated my post w/more details so it makes more sense (hopefully).

unilynx 4y ago
I don't know if this happens in The Netherlands, but if they forced your phone to receive NL Alerts it would seem very reasonable to me. Only the government issues those. I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Then I could understand you considering cell broadcast being turned on being unreasonable
- michaelt 4y ago
  The fact the government issues the alerts doesn't mean the government won't get pressured into sending spammy messages. For example, what politician could turn down the grieving parents of a kidnapped child, when they call for using the emergency alert system for missing children? But if I work from home, and there aren't any kidnapped children in my home, then waking me up at 5am with a missing child alert just inconveniences for no benefit to anyone.
  - isodev 4y ago
    Amber alerts are a well-defined category of messages you can receive. The regulation about what constitutes a legitimate case for an emergency broadcast are very strict and subject to public review, so pretty hard to misuse for unrelated purposes.
    - xnyanta 4y ago
      Yet, no one is forcing governments to use the system as-designed. In Quebec, on my phone, I can disable quite a few types of cell broadcast alerts like AMBER alerts, Test alerts, etc. The only hidden setting is the one for presidential alerts. Well guess what? The Quebec government sends every type of alert, even the regular test ones, with the presidential alert severity which makes all of these settings useless and does nothing but irritate the population with spammy messages. Recently, they sent out an AMBER alert that was supposed to be localized in some area and, instead, sent it everywhere in Quebec except for the affected area. This is exactly why people have the right to remain skeptical about alert systems like this one.
  - VLM 4y ago
    > inconveniences for no benefit to anyone. Everyone will be forced to see how much they care which proves how good they are, like it or not! Stranger than waking people up from sleep for a custody disagreement, is when they'd broadcast those on TV... The purpose of those is not to find the kid, but to send a message to TV viewers, none of whom would be of any assistance in finding the kid. You see this display of "care" with storm sirens being set off after the storm already passed the area.
  - orhmeh09 4y ago
    You can turn it off. Shouldn’t be too inconvenient if it’s important to you.
    - anigbrowl 4y ago
      This entire thread is about the fact that in some case the carrier can override your decision and turn it back on.
- happyopossum 4y ago
  > I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Err, no - emergency alerts aren’t used for advertising here.
- pfoof 4y ago
  > Only the government issues those. Just wait when your neighbor repeats the packet at night, locally and undetected https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts#Security https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts#Se...

The part you mention I was aware of and am actually thankful for. This, at least to me, goes much further. Hence the shock. Updated my post w/more details so it makes more sense (hopefully).

unilynx 4y ago

I don't know if this happens in The Netherlands, but if they forced your phone to receive NL Alerts it would seem very reasonable to me. Only the government issues those. I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Then I could understand you considering cell broadcast being turned on being unreasonable

michaelt 4y ago
The fact the government issues the alerts doesn't mean the government won't get pressured into sending spammy messages. For example, what politician could turn down the grieving parents of a kidnapped child, when they call for using the emergency alert system for missing children? But if I work from home, and there aren't any kidnapped children in my home, then waking me up at 5am with a missing child alert just inconveniences for no benefit to anyone.
- isodev 4y ago
  Amber alerts are a well-defined category of messages you can receive. The regulation about what constitutes a legitimate case for an emergency broadcast are very strict and subject to public review, so pretty hard to misuse for unrelated purposes.
  - xnyanta 4y ago
    Yet, no one is forcing governments to use the system as-designed. In Quebec, on my phone, I can disable quite a few types of cell broadcast alerts like AMBER alerts, Test alerts, etc. The only hidden setting is the one for presidential alerts. Well guess what? The Quebec government sends every type of alert, even the regular test ones, with the presidential alert severity which makes all of these settings useless and does nothing but irritate the population with spammy messages. Recently, they sent out an AMBER alert that was supposed to be localized in some area and, instead, sent it everywhere in Quebec except for the affected area. This is exactly why people have the right to remain skeptical about alert systems like this one.
- VLM 4y ago
  > inconveniences for no benefit to anyone. Everyone will be forced to see how much they care which proves how good they are, like it or not! Stranger than waking people up from sleep for a custody disagreement, is when they'd broadcast those on TV... The purpose of those is not to find the kid, but to send a message to TV viewers, none of whom would be of any assistance in finding the kid. You see this display of "care" with storm sirens being set off after the storm already passed the area.
- orhmeh09 4y ago
  You can turn it off. Shouldn’t be too inconvenient if it’s important to you.
  - anigbrowl 4y ago
    This entire thread is about the fact that in some case the carrier can override your decision and turn it back on.
happyopossum 4y ago
> I've understood cell broadcasts are also used for advertisements/otherwise spammy stuff in eg. the US? Err, no - emergency alerts aren’t used for advertising here.
pfoof 4y ago
> Only the government issues those. Just wait when your neighbor repeats the packet at night, locally and undetected https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts#Security https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts#Se...