The FCC has approved a presidential alert system. This means that starting fairly soon, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will be testing an alert that may show President Obama coming on your TV screen or mobile phone to warn you about terrorist alert. It will be much like the testing we saw as kids, “This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. This is only a test.” And then the screen would go blank or wavy, and a buzzing would sound out for a few moments. Of course this will be a more sophisticated alert, with a broadcast message from President Obama.
Emergency Alert System (EAS) Will Be Reaching Out to You
Consumers will receive alerts through their Smartphones and other broadband devices. According to an article posted by Kurt Nimmo, Infowars.com, “As Next Generation EAS systems become operational over the next few years, they will complement other public alert and warning systems now being developed, including FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and the Commercial Mobile Alert (CMAS). FEMA is also working on a new system that would send emergency alerts as text messages to wireless phone users. The system is still about two years away from full implementation, according to the agency.”
“The Federal Communications Commission today took action to help pave the way for the first-ever Presidential alert to be aired across the United States on the Nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS),” the FCC announced on February 3 in a press release. “The national test will help determine the reliability of the EAS system and its effectiveness in notifying the public of emergencies and potential danger nationwide and regionally.”
The Broadcast Message Center was created in November 2010. The Center is designed to assist mobile phone manufacturers to adopt the Federal Communication Commission’s Commercial Mobile Alert System, thus enabling all mobile phones to receive emergency alerts from the government. CMAS is slated to begin deployment in April 2012.
The mobile phone system can be a huge tool for emergency alerts. During the last crisis in Haiti, cell phones really helped organize relief efforts and kept the public informed. While the land line phones were down, text messaging was the only form of communication for many areas. See my blog Cell Phones in Haiti are key to emergency services. More people worldwide have cell phones than ever before. Having a mobile alert for disasters and national security only makes sense. After all, if the electricity goes down, your home phone most likely won’t work either. So why not take advantage of a system already in place? It just makes sense to me. What about you?
