Emergency siren to all mobile phones on St George's Day?

[stevensfo]

The problem with the alerts is that once the Government (of any persuasion) has gained a liking for them, they will start to use them for other, less serious emergencies, and do you really trust the government to have your best interests at heart..

I prefer to make my own choices and to suffer my own consequences.

Imagine an emergency alert, "disaster, please go <here>" then having huge crowds of panicking people turn up at some preordained location, what could possibly go wrong.....

Maybe I'm getting more paranoid as I get older, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's all part of a subtle plan to see how much control they can exert over us as well as exploring ways of gathering more data.

I believe that the UK government already want Whatsapp to stop their encryption of data.

It's not going to stop till we all have chips implanted in our brains and a little aerial sticking out to pick up the latest Daily Mail headlines.

Steve

[Darka]

Maybe I'm getting more paranoid as I get older, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's all part of a subtle plan to see how much control they can exert over us as well as exploring ways of gathering more data.

I believe that the UK government already want Whatsapp to stop their encryption of data.

It's not going to stop till we all have chips implanted in our brains and a little aerial sticking out to pick up the latest Daily Mail headlines.

Steve

I was going to put the word "control" in the message of mine that you quoted as I would not be surprised if that is the end result of this, no matter how well intentioned to begin with.

[Urbandreamer]

The problem with the alerts is that once the Government (of any persuasion) has gained a liking for them, they will start to use them for other, less serious emergencies, and do you really trust the government to have your best interests at heart..

I prefer to make my own choices and to suffer my own consequences.

While I totally agree with your viewpoint, I'm leaving my alerts at default for now.

I have a choice of three/four types of alert
Amber
Extreme
Severe
or
Annoy me every month.

I also have "developer options", probably because my phone is in developer mode.
They include
Show opt out
Speak the message
Use full volume (ignore Do not Disturb)

The last defaulted to off.

[Mike4]

The problem with the alerts is that once the Government (of any persuasion) has gained a liking for them, they will start to use them for other, less serious emergencies, and do you really trust the government to have your best interests at heart..

I prefer to make my own choices and to suffer my own consequences.

Imagine an emergency alert, "disaster, please go <here>" then having huge crowds of panicking people turn up at some preordained location, what could possibly go wrong.....

Agree with all of that.

But it gets worse. I can imagine a situation when its obvious something dire is happening (e.g. the dam up there is crumbling) but no warning comes.

Nobody moves, believing there is no risk as the government warning service on their phones was silent...

[Infrasonic]

If the alerts start to be misused you can turn them off - I genuinely don't get all the paranoia here, and those of you who are regular posters on this board know how privacy/security focused I am.

If they start to introduce legislation to make them mandatory (possibly with root access to your phone), then that's an issue I would definitely fight against.

[Infrasonic]

If you get an alert you still have the option to ignore it, or do something opposite...

As an example we had letters to all the flats in my development a few years back from the managing agents advising us to 'stay in place' in the event of a fire in one of the flats.

Our development is only four storeys and both sides have external walkways with fire exits, but despite this we all challenged this advice and said evacuate and meet in the car park in the middle would make far more sense.

Eventually after a consultation with the local fire station that became the agreed fire plan.

This was before Grenfell, where they were also advised to stay in place...

[Urbandreamer]

If the alerts start to be misused you can turn them off - I genuinely don't get all the paranoia here, and those of you who are regular posters on this board know how privacy/security focused I am.

I actually find it relatively easy to understand the paranoia.

Sure, the more that you research this Emergency Alert, the less that the paranoia seems warranted. However, IF you just accept what you hear from the media, it all seems very ill-considered.

We have not even considered the "honey-pot" that it is and need to believe that the authorities, known for their history of cybersecurity, have done so.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/2 ... -sign.html

And this, more recently.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/h ... s-23421190

[pje16]

I actually find it relatively easy to understand the paranoia.

Paranoia....
your phone is going to buy/ring, so what

[Infrasonic]

... However, IF you just accept what you hear from the media, it all seems very ill-considered...

There's no legislating for stupidity, I haven't bothered with mainstream media for years, including 'august' organisations like the BBC.

If I want to find out the latest cybersecurity or IT issues I go to some of the specialist working industry professionals I follow online and see what they have to say about it. You'll get a variation of opinion but there'll be a general consensus.

You don't take a Ferrari to the local backstreet garage, you shouldn't expect click bait news sites to give you anything approaching a balanced informed opinion on anything remotely technical in nature.

[Infrasonic]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/a-rise-in ... 7WJ6KERR4/

A rise in tsunami siren thefts thought to be equipping the Auckland music siren battle subculture

The growing siren battle subculture across Auckland is thought to be putting lives at risk as tsunami siren theft and vandalism escalates.

In the past six months, Auckland Emergency Management said 22 siren units have been stolen from west coast areas while nine were taken from areas on the east coast.

Auckland Emergency Management (AEM) head of capability and public awareness Adam Maggs said the behaviour had picked up again in recent weeks and said it was "unacceptable".

An AEM spokesperson later told the Herald that they suspect the sirens were being stolen for siren battling and installation on vehicles.

Cont.

[Mike4]

I actually find it relatively easy to understand the paranoia.

Paranoia....
your phone is going to buy/ring, so what

I certainly don't want MY phone buying anything. Especially unexpectedly, without my permission...

[swill453]

siren battling

Modern life - finding out that something you'd never imagine could be a thing, is a thing.

Scott.

[Infrasonic]

siren battling

Modern life - finding out that something you'd never imagine could be a thing, is a thing.

Scott.

I know - I just Googled tsunami sirens and that popped up - too good not to post...

[stevensfo]

siren battling

Modern life - finding out that something you'd never imagine could be a thing, is a thing.

Scott.

Isn't that how marketing and advertising work? Think of something that is not really needed, but then convince people that they absolutely must have it.

e.g. Shake 'n Vac puts the freshness back, Metal debit/credit cards, Brut after shave makes you look like a boxer, cars that have a top speed of 250mph...etc?

Steve

[pje16]

Paranoia....
your phone is going to buy/ring, so what

I certainly don't want MY phone buying anything. Especially unexpectedly, without my permission...

my bad
I meant buzz not buy.

[Mike4]

I certainly don't want MY phone buying anything. Especially unexpectedly, without my permission...

my bad
I meant buzz not buy.

It was obviously a typo and I puzzled about what you might have meant, but it was too good an opportunity to let pass!!

[stevensfo]

If I remember, I will try to put my phone on airplane mode after receiving the siren and take it from there.

https://fullfact.org/online/emergency-phone-alert-gdpr/

You won’t need to reply to the emergency alert. According to the government: “It will appear on your device's home screen and you must acknowledge it before you can use other features. They appear as a notification and may include telephone numbers or website links containing further information.”

So you won’t need to “reply” as such, but you will need to acknowledge the alert by pressing ‘ok’ before you can use your phone again.

Okay. How exactly do they install this obligation to press 'okay'?

I'm interested if it's a simple block on the phone hardware itself that forces you to acknowledge the message, or a reply sent via the network. But the fact that you 'must' press 'okay' surely indicates that your phone will transmit your number to a data gathering site.

Both are pretty insidious. Those of us who got PAYG sim cards may be okay, but if you have a contract.....well, resistance is futile and you will be assimilated!

The fact that so little information is given about how it works is creepy.

I think I will also set my GPS emulator to put me in the middle of the White house, and set my VPN to a Washington IP address.

Steve

[swill453]

If I remember, I will try to put my phone on airplane mode after receiving the siren and take it from there.

https://fullfact.org/online/emergency-phone-alert-gdpr/

You won’t need to reply to the emergency alert. According to the government: “It will appear on your device's home screen and you must acknowledge it before you can use other features. They appear as a notification and may include telephone numbers or website links containing further information.”

So you won’t need to “reply” as such, but you will need to acknowledge the alert by pressing ‘ok’ before you can use your phone again.

Okay. How exactly do they install this obligation to press 'okay'?

I'm interested if it's a simple block on the phone hardware itself that forces you to acknowledge the message, or a reply sent via the network. But the fact that you 'must' press 'okay' surely indicates that your phone will transmit your number to a data gathering site.

No, it doesn't.

It'll be a simple "ok" sort of dialogue box which will dismiss at a click.

Nothing will be transmitted.

Scott.

[stevensfo]

If I remember, I will try to put my phone on airplane mode after receiving the siren and take it from there.

https://fullfact.org/online/emergency-phone-alert-gdpr/



Okay. How exactly do they install this obligation to press 'okay'?

I'm interested if it's a simple block on the phone hardware itself that forces you to acknowledge the message, or a reply sent via the network. But the fact that you 'must' press 'okay' surely indicates that your phone will transmit your number to a data gathering site.

No, it doesn't.

It'll be a simple "ok" sort of dialogue box which will dismiss at a click.

Nothing will be transmitted.

Scott.

What? But we get this sort of cr*p all the time on the internet and just delete the page.

If the dialogue box is so unimportant, how can it possibly block the phone until you press 'okay'. What is this trick they are using?


Steve

[servodude]

No, it doesn't.

It'll be a simple "ok" sort of dialogue box which will dismiss at a click.

Nothing will be transmitted.

Scott.

What? But we get this sort of cr*p all the time on the internet and just delete the page.

If the dialogue box is so unimportant, how can it possibly block the phone until you press 'okay'. What is this trick they are using?


Steve

Set the screen flags to "modal dialogue" normally