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, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:03AM (2 children)
Turn that fucking shit off (on android):
Settings
Apps & Notifications
Advanced.
Emergency Alerts
uncheck Amber Alerts, Extreme Threats and/or Severe Threats
If rooted, get rid of presidential alerts too:
as root, edit (vim etc.) /data/user/0/com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver/shared_prefs/com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver_preferences.xml
change presidential value to "false"
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:45AM
No push notification without representation!
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:41AM
However there are other important colour alerts that some people may want to return:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:04AM (4 children)
What about "imminent and credible threat to the rest of us"?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday January 29 2020, @07:21AM (2 children)
If you are lucky and still alive, you will see it 3-4 hours later in the news anyway.
Why, public-private partnership is the best solution to this kind of problem... look at this shiny dangling object... look at it... look at it... look at it...
Attaboy... you really want to starve the beast, you always wanted to; whoever tells you can benefit from public spending** is trying to rob you, is your greatest enemy, righteous rage is the minimal reaction [soylentnews.org] you will have to it.
Sure! You can go further than uncontrolled rage and shoot people for stuff [soylentnews.org] if you so goddam please [soylentnews.org].
Now, when I count to three, you will wake up completely satisfied the cases of "imminent and credible threat to the rest of us" were taken care of for you; and will stay vigilant against those who tell you otherwise.
----
** (clearly, public spending is meant to benefit the corporations first; they are good people, will trickle on you sooner or later)
(large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:39PM (1 child)
Why do I have the feeling that you (c0lo) are c0-located with the Cheshire cat? Always grinning...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday January 29 2020, @09:09PM
(grin) I D ₖ .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday January 29 2020, @06:37PM
How about green alerts?
Not for environmental stuff but for logging related threats. 'Cause logging is WAAAAYY more dangerous than being a cop. [usatoday.com]
According to OSHA we need to come up with 13 other colors before we bother with blue.
(Score: 2) by progo on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:16AM (2 children)
When you get an EAS alert for severe weather in a crowded theater, the alert sound lasts for over a minute, as different phones receive the broadcast at different times. Pain in the ass.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday January 29 2020, @12:05PM
Hence the advice to "shut off your cell phone" not merely "set the ringer to vibrate"
I have been there and seen that in church, for example.
Other than keeping the population scared and thus easily controllable, I'm not sure of the point of alerting a church full of people that some divorced dad 50 miles away had a flat tire and is running late while returning his kid and his ex-wife really hates him and thought this would be fun, which is what most of the amber alerts are around here.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:09PM
Then the person with the blaring phone needs to stand their ass up and walk out of the theatre until the thing shuts off. Problem solved. In fact, phone starts ringing or whatever, get ass up and take it outside before taking out the phone and blinding everyone around.
Some people cannot shut off their phones for good reasons. But anyone can learn some basic courtesy.
(And, on the flip side, if two minutes of a movie is disturbed for EAS and then the people shut their phones off... not the end of the world, either. Unless the EAS is about the end of the world........)
This sig for rent.
(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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:01AM (4 children)
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:25AM
ah, so that's what the kids are trying to accomplish.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @01:26PM
I thought that was what Facebook was for.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:16PM (1 child)
I got that reference
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday January 30 2020, @01:26AM
I'm disappointed in those that didn't
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @01:33PM (3 children)
Group A gets an alert just for them.
How can they say that group B is not just as important.
The thing about the original alerts was that they were for things that were a problem for the person getting the alert.
Like a nuke is heading your way. I can see maybe a tornado.
This focus makes the alerts really powerful. Just like they need to be.
This new stuff makes them into at best feel good, but how do I turn them off.
Poor, poor legislators for having to do their job ^H^H tell folks no.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:14PM (2 children)
I see your point. But, to my mind, alerts about kidnapped children (or an active school shooting in the area) are of a different quality than the others described above. Maybe that's just me, but I don't think so because that's why "think of the children" is used - because it works and when truthful and correct it should.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday January 29 2020, @04:41PM (1 child)
What about an "active shooting" 50 miles away?
I suspect that the significance falls off with the cube of the distance, but it might be the 4th power. (Actually, that's clearly not fair as there's lots of contextual variation, and if you're driving towards [or even from] that area, well, it becomes more significant. And there are other variables. But if all you know is the distance, then my guess holds.)
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday January 29 2020, @05:43PM
Very true - good point. AFAIK they don't have the same granularity that National Weather Service does in defining warning areas.... even then for radios you're limited to transmitter coverage areas (and whether to fire it up) and I'm not sure of the granularity of cell phone towers. One should be able to get it into particular tower radii (which can be up to 45 miles which is roughly LOS for a small tower I'd guess), and if one has enough towers in the area I bet one can get it into a 10-20 mile area.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @07:28PM
Lets you know that St Greta the Grumpy has found something new to complain about.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:56PM
The alerts would be pretty rare if recipients were allowed to 'reply all' to the message. Well, the first few times it would be comical and frustrating, but the backlash would make sending the alerts very unpopular.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @09:36PM
I get weather alerts in my Volt car from Vermont and sometimes Massachusetts.
I live in Canada! Bought the car in Canada too!
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Thursday January 30 2020, @03:00PM
I hate Amber Alerts, because they go wide. Oh, a child in Miami is missing? Good to know, I will keep my Alaska living eyes peeled for that fucking license plate.
(Score: 1) by tbuskey on Thursday January 30 2020, @06:14PM
In IT we've had this for awhile. I had a stupid coworker setup an alarm to go of if the DB was frozen before the backup and then unfrozen. Every night at 3am. That was the end of useful alerts from the pager.
It's been in the medical field too:
http://archive.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/03/alarm_fatigue_linked_to_heart_patients_death_at_mass_general/ [boston.com]
I have the alerts off on my phone though I still get weather warnings. On Wednesday I got a winter warning about a storm predicted on Sunday. Really? In New England in January? When I need an alert for that, it's obviously time to stop using anything sharper than a twinkie.