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posted by chromas on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:25PM   Printer-friendly

Lawsuit seeks to stop FEMA's "Presidential Alert" system to cellphones citing First Amendment violation

A new lawsuit filed in New York is seeking to stop the implementation of FEMA's new "Presidential Alert" messaging system, an alert used for national emergencies that can be deployed by President Trump. Plaintiffs in Manhattan are suing Mr. Trump and FEMA Administrator Brock Long, claiming the alert system is a "violation of Americans' First and Fourth Amendment rights to be free from Government-compelled listening, as well as warrantless, non-consensual trespass into and seizure of their cellular devices."

Plaintiffs compare the alert system to "hijacking private property for the purpose of planting a Government-controlled loudspeaker in the home and on the person of every American." This new presidential alert is nationwide and only used for advance warning of national crises.

According to FEMA, the alert is not a text or SMS (short message service) but an audio and text warning that will display as a notification across a user's cellphone -- similar to the ones carriers receive during Amber Alerts and weather emergencies.

Previously: FEMA Emergency Test Message to be Sent to Most U.S. Cell Phones on Sept. 20 (or Oct. 3)
What to Expect From the U.S. Wireless Emergency Alert Test Today


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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Magic Oddball on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:29AM

    by Magic Oddball (3847) on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:29AM (#745272) Journal

    I thankfully had no problem disabling the Amber & Emergency Alerts on my phone (Moto E4), but surprisingly that wasn't enough to prevent the far louder Presidential Alert, which also apparently is designed to trigger the maximum-vibration setting. When it went off, I was taking a nap, so the combination of the tone & buzzing sounded enough to my sleep-futzed brain like the old Emergency Broadcast/Alert System tests [youtube.com] that I spent few very confused seconds thinking it was coming from the TV that used to be in the family room about 20 years ago.

    What baffles me is why they didn't just have this be an extension of the nationwide Emergency Alert System that they started testing several years ago; the fact that it's being sent to phones instead of televisions & radio shouldn't matter that much. Then again, natural disasters & terrorist attacks would all qualify as local emergencies better suited to the older local system; the only thing I can think of that'd be a genuine nationwide emergency would be nuclear missiles being minutes away from flattening every major city in the country, in which case all we can really do is put our heads between our knees and kiss our asses goodbye.

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