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from the the-boy-^W-phone-that-cried-wolf dept.
Please Stop Sending Terrifying Alerts to My Cell Phone:
Amber, Blue, Silver, Camo: Is it really a good idea to push so many alarming messages to the public?
[...] Last month a police officer in Houston was run over and killed during a traffic stop. The suspect got away. The next day, millions of phones across Texas buzzed with news of the officer's death after the state's Department of Public Safety blasted out what's known as a Blue Alert. This prompted considerable concern and confusion. A man in Odessa, some 500 miles away, spoke for many when he tweeted: "wtf is a blue alert?"
Blue Alerts are mass notifications, now used in 35 states, that are sent to mobile phones and flashed on electronic highway signs when a suspect on the loose is thought to be an "imminent and credible threat to law enforcement." The hope is that pinging the public will lead to tips for the police, and then a speedier capture. It's an idea that originated with the better-known Amber Alert program, named after a 9-year-old abductee from Arlington, Texas, who was murdered, which aims to help authorities recover kidnapped children. Along with Blue and Amber alerts, there are Silver Alerts, issued for elderly people who are lost and might be suffering from dementia, and Camo Alerts, dispatched in at least three states when current or former members of the military are missing and thought to be a threat to themselves or others.
The appeal of doing everything we can in the aftermath of a horrific crime is powerful. But there's little evidence that any of the rainbow of alerts have much impact at all. In fact, these alerts are best described as "crime control theater"—a term criminologists use for programs that merely foster the perception that the government is taking swift and significant action.
Each time a new alert is proposed, the success of Amber Alerts is cited as precedent. In 2018, 161 Amber Alerts were sent out, in cases involving 203 children. Of those, 34 children were recovered based on an Amber Alert tip. That's about 17 percent. Since it began in 1996, the return of 967 children has been credited to the program. If Amber works, the thinking goes, then Blue, Silver, and Camo should work too. But does the track record of Amber really match that seemingly unassailable reputation?
[...] Some of these alerts are certainly justified, and rescuing nearly 1,000 children over two decades is far from nothing. But when researchers dig into those numbers, they start to seem less impressive. In a 2016 paper, criminologists examined 448 child-abduction cases in which Amber Alerts were sent out to the public. (In 401 of those cases, the abducted child or children were recovered unharmed; in 88, an alert-inspired tip was credited with the recovery.) The study found that outcomes for the children didn't vary all that much. That is, children were typically taken by a family member and returned home safely; and this was true regardless of whether the Amber Alert had brought in useful tips. It's likely that the alerts sometimes led to a speedier recovery of those children—which is clearly a great thing—but the researchers didn't find support for the assertion that the Amber program saves lives.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by VanessaE on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:16AM (16 children)
I wouldn't mind these alerts too much if they would just stop using that G*D DAMNED EBS/EAS sound!
I grew up with that alert sound being reserved for stuff with state- or nationwide impact, and I never actually heard it used for anything, aside from tests run by the TV stations of the day.
Now every fucking alert, no matter how irrelevant to my area, blasts that at me.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:46AM (8 children)
Yes! Cry "wolf!" all the time, then everyone ignores you when a real one shows up.
Familiarity breeds complacency.
I also have a beef about those apps who sneak in an ad that mimics a "Severe Weather Alert", when it's nothing but a goad to install a weather app.
It does not make me install their app. It only reinforces my distrust of apps. The offending app rises to the top of my list of apps that need to be replaced.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday January 29 2020, @07:27AM (2 children)
And complacency cross-breeds with wolves - every time one is complacent, a wolf will appear sooner or later.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:45PM (1 child)
I'm losing the metaphor... Does that wolf show up looking for love, so to speak?
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday February 03 2020, @03:22AM
In all the wrong places.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Wednesday January 29 2020, @09:08AM (1 child)
"Cry "wolf!" all the time, then everyone ignores you when a real one shows up."
This.
According to TFA, even the "feel good" amber alerts about kids are apparently useless. The stats were cooked to make it look otherwise, but the truth remains: nearly all child abductions are by relatives. Meaning they really aren't "abductions" at all, but custody disputes. Which do not need to involve the entire general public in a radius of hundreds of miles.
And "blue alerts"? Why, exactly, is an attack on a police officer more important than an attack on any other citizen? Camo alerts - give me a break. I'm a veteran, and I have zero interest in having such an alert issued on my behalf.
A cold-blooded analysis: A human lifetime is about 700,000 hours. The time these alerts cost the population, divided by the minuscule chance that they actually achieve anything, simply does not compute. It's just like TSA: An annual cost measured in thousands of lifetimes travellers' time - for what? These systems aren't just worthless; they are actually a massive waste of human capital.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:25PM
As a veteran you should know that lionizing police, fire fighters and veterans is American religious lip service.
Heh, it wouldn't be for your behalf. It's for civilians to point the cops in your direction so you can be neutralized.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday January 29 2020, @12:07PM (1 child)
See also the legacy news propaganda channels STILL using the cliffhanger before commercials of "breaking news" because there's still boomers and gen-x alive who remember when breaking news was the US starting yet another war or an economic crash or airline crash. Now it means nothing at all, change the channel.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:51PM
Any teaser for 'breaking news' is a de facto signal that one should grab their phone and check the internet. If it's on a scheduled news program, you know it will be underwhelming. The most likely cause of breaking news is when a scheduled press conference is about to change from 'late' to 'in progress'.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:22PM
Is there an app for that?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday January 29 2020, @10:21AM (4 children)
The relevancy is a big issue. Of all of the alerts I have gotten, exactly one EVER has been potentially relevant to the area I was actually in at the time. There have also been quite a few cases where an alert would be well justified in my area but none was sent. On the bright side, maybe the tornado will wipe out the N. Korean missiles.
Note to the people sending the alerts. At 3 A.M. I am either in bed or drowsing in the living room most of the time. That will be true for most people. The odds of me spotting the Silver Honda you're looking for in a town 30 minutes drive from me are truly miniscule. For that matter, the odds that I'll actually be able to read the alert while bleary eyed with sleep aren't that good either.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday January 29 2020, @12:00PM (2 children)
If I am driving, that phone is in my pocket. I ignore whatever it does, except igniting itself.
By God, I am driving nearly a ton of steel down the road. That phone ranks damm low.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:47PM (1 child)
> I am driving nearly a ton of steel
Where did you get a car that weighs less than a ton (2000 lbs)? I had one in the 1980s, a Chevy Sprint, made by Suzuki with a 1 liter 3-cylinder engine but it turned to rust long ago. Perfectly good transportation (it replaced a motorcycle). I started to get worried about others hitting me, once the fraction of big pickups and SUVs (used as cars, not work vehicles) in USA started to increase.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday February 01 2020, @01:45AM
I don't really know how much my big old E350 w/7.3L IDI diesel ( Old School, completely mechanical, very heavy, very torquey, but not very fast) weighs, but I know damn near anything I steer it into will disappear.
I respect that thing. A lot. It can do a lot of damage, or be very helpful. It will haul hundreds of things that I cannot even begin to pick up. It will also yank trees right out of the ground. I have to buy special 10 ply tires for it...load rated "E", that run 80 psi.
This is not a zoom-zoom. It is a beast of burden. One of these days, I intend to use a friend's 3D printer to make me a few badges for it. What is it? Ox? Cow? Hippo? Rhino? Mule? WartHog? It certainly ain't no Cougar!
Any suggestions?
You better believe that when I am on the road with that beast, controlling it has my undivided attention.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:20AM
Yep. I live in a wildfire zone. You know how I find out about fires? I hear the actual sirens if they're close enough, then I look out the Window. The Summer before last was terrifying. Aside from the big fires, there were numerous starts that were extinguished quickly thanks to the fast actions of crews equipped not only with trucks, but helicopters that get water from the lake. In every case, I heard the siren and/or saw the smoke plume. What if I were asleep? No phone is going to wake me out of a sound sleep--it's turned off because spam is more likely to do that anyway. Anecdotally, neighbors knocking on the door or cops with loudspeakers seem to be very effective--but I've never been that close. Wildfire starts are *fast*, then they hit the news quickly. I'm skeptical that a phone alert will ever catch up. The Nixle alerts are good for letting you know where the evac zones are, sometimes. That's a different thing though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @01:53PM
It's part of the Morlock's plan.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:12PM
I've heard the sound used many times legitimately. The most severe of which were tornado warnings or thunderstorms with downbursts delivering a similar effect.
But yes, there is a limit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_fatigue [wikipedia.org]
This sig for rent.