Senate Wants Emergency Alerts to go Out Through Netflix, Spotify, etc.

DooKey

DooKey

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
13,205
Senators from Hawaii and South Dakota have introduced a bill that would change the Emergency Alert System and add these alerts to streaming services like Netflix. This is an interesting idea and I can get behind this effort as long as the government fixes false alerts like those that happened in Hawaii. To be honest I'm surprised this hasn't come up earlier since the cord cutting phenomenon has been occurring for some time. Contact your senator to support this if you think it's a good idea. Also, check out the bill because it touches on a few other items you might be interested in.

“Hawaii? Wasn’t that the state that had a very public false alarm with its emergency alert system?”

Yep! But it seems that in investigating what went wrong, the state found plenty of long-lived shortcomings in the existing, aging alert system.
 
I have no issues with this whatsoever. My wife, even in spite of me loving her, tends - against my better wishes and instructions not to do it - watches Netflix or Amazon Prime Video or any other videos on her laptop full screen. We sometimes keep in touch either with our smartphones of course or by using Discord or sometimes even Hangouts, and she has this hyper-super-duper tunnel vision that occurs when she's that focused on some movie or TV show or whatever she's watching. It means she doesn't hear her phone chirping at her or see the notification light, it also means she misses the little popup boxes telling her she got a message on Discord or Hangouts on the laptop she's using and it gets quite frustrating.

So yeah, while this particular situation doesn't mean I can send her such messages that just stop the damned video playback completely, if the shit in the world truly hits the fan it would be nice to know that SOMETHING can get through to crash her tunnel vision. :)
 
That is not netflix's job.

Cell phone and land line notification are more than enough.

How long before they demand it goes on every IOT device. Your camera has to warn you? Your router has to warn you? Your email has to warn you? Your OS has to warn you?

It puts too much burden on business when there is plenty of coverage already.
 
My only concern / issue would be against those test alerts that go out. Last thing i want is a test of the emergency system going off at 10 at night while i am hanging with friends watching movies.

Other than that, 100% for it
 
Privacy invasion foil hat wearing aspects aside it's a good idea. The wireless carriers being the primary need of usage. Netflix, Spotify and other strictly IP based systems won't be 100% reliable anytime soon. Hell do a whois search on public IPs for residential ISPs. I've had it tell me my users are in Colorado when their home is in South Carolina.
 
I think it's a stupid idea. It's based on the premise that htings like radios and TVs are essential to maximize coverage for communications.

Literally 92% of American adults own cell phones. What are the odds that you are not in a room with one at any given time of day? They already have had the emergency alert system implemented on them. Not to mention I can opt in to a whole host of lesser emergency notification services.
 
raz-0 said:
I think it's a stupid idea. It's based on the premise that htings like radios and TVs are essential to maximize coverage for communications.

Literally 92% of American adults own cell phones. What are the odds that you are not in a room with one at any given time of day? They already have had the emergency alert system implemented on them. Not to mention I can opt in to a whole host of lesser emergency notification services.
Click to expand...

Putting my tin foil hat on. I don't like government entities having the direct ability to override every single form of communication, video, audio etc at the touch of a button.

Fake missile launch alerts on netflix could be funny though.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
That is not netflix's job.

Cell phone and land line notification are more than enough.

How long before they demand it goes on every IOT device. Your camera has to warn you? Your router has to warn you? Your email has to warn you? Your OS has to warn you?

It puts too much burden on business when there is plenty of coverage already.
Click to expand...


I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line. We cut the cord some time ago. Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.

raz-0 said:
I think it's a stupid idea. It's based on the premise that htings like radios and TVs are essential to maximize coverage for communications.

Literally 92% of American adults own cell phones. What are the odds that you are not in a room with one at any given time of day? They already have had the emergency alert system implemented on them. Not to mention I can opt in to a whole host of lesser emergency notification services.
Click to expand...

My cell phone has no such service. My Wife's phone is rarely in earshot.
 
Last edited:
DigitalGriffin said:
That is not netflix's job.

Cell phone and land line notification are more than enough.

How long before they demand it goes on every IOT device. Your camera has to warn you? Your router has to warn you? Your email has to warn you? Your OS has to warn you?

It puts too much burden on business when there is plenty of coverage already.
Click to expand...

And it wasnt the networks job either when they were broadcasting. I dont think thats a valid argument.

On the other hand I agree that the cell networks are sufficient (also not their job btw) and cells are pretty prevalent (even seen homeless people with them) so that should suffice.

BSmith said:
I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line. We cut the cord some time ago. Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.
Click to expand...

So youve never gotten a flood warning or amber alert? I find that hard to believe.
 
They should update/fix/strengthen the Wireless Emergency Alert first.


Anyway, there is simple answer for this. While you can block most messages from the Wireless Emergency Alert system, you cannot block messages from the President.... Now you know why this bill is being proposed...
 
More incompetent gubment bureaucrats looking to extend their power instead of actually providing the service they force the taxpayer to fund in the first place. What good is any alert system if the idiots behind it fail to support it properly? But I work in the private sector where sucking at your job gets you fired if you are not C-level so what do I know.
 
BSmith said:
I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line. We cut the cord some time ago. Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the proper response be that WEA system allow you to sign up for free text message alerts? or get free land line call/voicemail alerts? Or ask Microsoft to add to Windows an app that you can optionally enable to popups to alert you.
 
whatevs said:
Wouldn't the proper response be that WEA system allow you to sign up for free text message alerts? or get free land line call/voicemail alerts? Or ask Microsoft to add to Windows an app that you can optionally enable to popups to alert you.
Click to expand...

1) My phone/service is not SMS (text messages) capable and I never want it to be.
2) There is no such thing as a free landline and there never will be.
3) I am never at a computer when I am at home.
 
raz-0 said:
I think it's a stupid idea. It's based on the premise that htings like radios and TVs are essential to maximize coverage for communications.

Literally 92% of American adults own cell phones. What are the odds that you are not in a room with one at any given time of day? They already have had the emergency alert system implemented on them. Not to mention I can opt in to a whole host of lesser emergency notification services.
Click to expand...

My odds, at home, are very good that I won't have a smart phone active when I'm home. I'm on a pay-as-you-go plan so I turn my smart phone off when I get home (still got a landline). I just use my smart phone for emergency purposes (things like calling tipple A, etc), as a calculator and asking the wifey if she needs something from the store. I don't even have cellular data enabled.
 
DigitalGriffin said:
That is not netflix's job.

Cell phone and land line notification are more than enough.

How long before they demand it goes on every IOT device. Your camera has to warn you? Your router has to warn you? Your email has to warn you? Your OS has to warn you?

It puts too much burden on business when there is plenty of coverage already.
Click to expand...


I agree completely

And I'm not attacking you with the following comment, I'm trying to highlight the position.

Look, if it really comes down to the idea that Emergency Alerts need to go out over the internet, at least be fucking smart about it and tackle the issue at the broadcast level, the ISPs and Service Providers, not every Tom Dick and Harry content provider. Am I right?

"Your ISP has interrupted your regularly scheduled data stream to bring you this warning ....."
 
Last edited:
Montu said:
Senators from Hawaii and South Dakota have introduced a bill that would change the Emergency Alert System and add these alerts to streaming services like Netflix. This is an interesting idea and I can get behind this effort as long as the government fixes false alerts like those that happened in Hawaii. To be honest I'm surprised this hasn't come up earlier since the cord cutting phenomenon has been occurring for some time. Contact your senator to support this if you think it's a good idea. Also, check out the bill because it touches on a few other items you might be interested in.

“Hawaii? Wasn’t that the state that had a very public false alarm with its emergency alert system?”

Yep! But it seems that in investigating what went wrong, the state found plenty of long-lived shortcomings in the existing, aging alert system.
Click to expand...


Wait wait wait.

You think the Federal Government should go down to the State level and take some action to prevent a moron who works for the State from making a fuck-up ?

I think you want way too much out of the Federal Government and are not putting the blame for the fuck-up where it's warranted.

I also think that this kind of , frankly lazy thinking, is part of why the Federal Government is so damned big and into so damn much.

Don't be part of the problem please.
 
BSmith said:
1) My phone/service is not SMS (text messages) capable and I never want it to be.
2) There is no such thing as a free landline and there never will be.
3) I am never at a computer when I am at home.
Click to expand...

????, I generically meant to include laptops/tablets and Apple. A one time effort by MS/Apple instead of every streaming service,...
BSmith said:
..... Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.
Click to expand...

edit: missed #2, i was not suggesting they give you a free landline, that you get free alerts if you have a landline. Not sure at this point you're just not trolling everyone. Good on ya.
 
whatevs said:
????, I generically meant to include laptops/tablets and Apple. A one time effort by MS/Apple instead of every streaming service,...
Click to expand...

MS and Apple would be pointless to me.

Roku would be the place to implement it for me. Have the burden placed on the streaming device. Now, with smart televisions, I am not sure how that would work as they do not connect to a centralized system like Roku's (and like devices do). Or do they?
 
BSmith said:
I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line. We cut the cord some time ago. Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.
Click to expand...
No doubt you'd welcome an extra level of warning, but I hate to point this out ... you cut off or prevent all other traditional forms of warning and it's still up to someone else to find a way to get warnings to you?

That said, I'd like to know how they can pin point where you are and whether or not an alert gets to you.
 
Just what we need, even more useless Amber alerts to let half the state know that some couple is bickering over their joint custody.
 
As long as they don't also include some stupid mandatory weekly test BS that you can't turn off or opt out of. I've had those stupid EMS test messages screw up DVR recordings or chop off important stuff in live events I was watching from overseas late at night - it's beyond annoying.

Indeed I'd only be for this if I could completely opt out. The best intentions get fucked over by bureaucratic nanny's in the worst ways.
 
DPI said:
Just what we need, even more useless Amber alerts to let half the state know that some couple is bickering over their joint custody.
Click to expand...
I hate to say this, but I turned off amber alerts on my phone after it made an audible warning sound (by default) at like 7 in the morning and this with my phone set to vibrate only.
 
sfsuphysics said:
No doubt you'd welcome an extra level of warning, but I hate to point this out ... you cut off or prevent all other traditional forms of warning and it's still up to someone else to find a way to get warnings to you?

That said, I'd like to know how they can pin point where you are and whether or not an alert gets to you.
Click to expand...


I have never asked anyone to find a way to get an alert to me. I am simply saying it would be nice to get it over a streaming connection. How that happens can be a couple of different ways. Those that contend it is a dumb idea due to their ability to currently get alerts is what is driving my response(s).
 
Ugh. I already have that annoying shit disabled on my phone.

I could see if they limited it to "shit, you could die, seek cover immediately" type of situations, but interrupting my day with every little thubderstorm and amber alert gets old in a hurry.

Unless there is serious and immediate risk of death or bodily harm to me personally, please just leave me alone.
 
Doesn’t OTA television have an emergency broadcast system? I remember in my youth emergency severe weather warnings interrupting shows. I don’t exactly like this level of control being extending to a streaming service but it does seem like logical progression from the OTA systems.

BSmith said:
I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line.
Click to expand...

How old is your phone, because even if you don’t have SMS service the provider is still usually capable of pushing free emergency notifications to you.
 
If they do it right, I think its not a bad idea. When you aren't watching cable/satellite or OTA TV and a Tornado is on the way, how am I to know it is on the way if my phone doesn't go off for some reason? There have been SEVERAL times where I was under a severe thunderstorm warning and there was no alert on my phone.
 
BSmith said:
I do not get any warnings on my phone (dumb flip-phone) and we have no land line. We cut the cord some time ago. Right now we live close enough to the tornado sirens we can hear them go off, but that is about it. I would welcome a warning through streaming services.



My cell phone has no such service. My Wife's phone is rarely in earshot.
Click to expand...

Get a newer flip phone, my last two had the emergency alert service and that's been a long while now. The system was federally mandated and was even implemented for firkin pagers. You more than likely DO have it.

If you need local stuff subscribe to nixle via SMS. I guarantee you you will get your tornado warnings.

There is literally ZERO need for this new regulation.
 
If they would just do ONE warning and then shut up, maybe. The EA notices that infest my cable TV get rather irritating. I live in the middle of tornado alley and during the spring, those EA messages pretty much make watching cable a PITA. If a storm is within 50 miles, you get an update warning every few minutes. No way to tell it to shut up. Even if you know that storm isn't going to wind up anywhere close to you. It even interrupts DVR playbacks. The only way to escape the EA messages is to watch a local station which will be showing weather coverage full time. Or use the time to catch up on some of those DVD/BR you bought during BF.

The problem with relying on a phone for warnings is cell service often goes down if a severe storm is approaching because the towers are getting blown down or the land line/power connections to the towers get destroyed.

If you need storm/disaster warnings, get a weather radio that is setup for that.
 
sfsuphysics said:
I hate to say this, but I turned off amber alerts on my phone after it made an audible warning sound (by default) at like 7 in the morning and this with my phone set to vibrate only.
Click to expand...

Same here.
I don't want to be waken by an amber alert about someone's ex driving off with their kid 40 miles away from where I live.
 
Nolan7689 said:
Doesn’t OTA television have an emergency broadcast system? I remember in my youth emergency severe weather warnings interrupting shows. I don’t exactly like this level of control being extending to a streaming service but it does seem like logical progression from the OTA systems.



How old is your phone, because even if you don’t have SMS service the provider is still usually capable of pushing free emergency notifications to you.
Click to expand...

It is 8 years old. A couple of years before the requirement was made for phones to have that capability.

raz-0 said:
Get a newer flip phone, my last two had the emergency alert service and that's been a long while now. The system was federally mandated and was even implemented for firkin pagers. You more than likely DO have it.

If you need local stuff subscribe to nixle via SMS. I guarantee you you will get your tornado warnings.

There is literally ZERO need for this new regulation.
Click to expand...

The requirement for phones to have it was implemented in 2012. My phone was made in 2010. The newer flip phones are no longer stupid, which is what I want. I just want a phone to be a phone. Hard to find those anymore.

I do not have SMS capibility and do not want it. It just adds more to the cost of the service.


EDIT:*****
Guys, please stop trying to "fix" my situation. I like how I have things and I am not complaining about it. I am simply welcoming this potential feature. When you say, but you can get it this way, that way, and the other way, I am simply responding no, no, and no. Not a big deal.
 
Last edited:
lcpiper said:
Wait wait wait.

You think the Federal Government should go down to the State level and take some action to prevent a moron who works for the State from making a fuck-up ?

I think you want way too much out of the Federal Government and are not putting the blame for the fuck-up where it's warranted.

I also think that this kind of , frankly lazy thinking, is part of why the Federal Government is so damned big and into so damn much.

Don't be part of the problem please.
Click to expand...
I work for the state dick:)
 
BSmith said:
1) My phone/service is not SMS (text messages) capable and I never want it to be.
2) There is no such thing as a free landline and there never will be.
3) I am never at a computer when I am at home.
Click to expand...

Wireless alerts arent sent via SMS. But as you indicated in your later posts your handset was built before the system was so....there is probably a firmware update to make it work or maybe not if the handset provider doesnt care.

Wasnt trying to "fix" your problem. Just dont think its necessary to alert over the TV.
 
I get alerts for normal thunderstorms. I live in maine. Thunderstorms are normal. And we get stupid alerts for them.

Alerts should only go out if your life is in danger, but unfortunately its for stupid crap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top