Public emergency alerts to be sent to all UK smartphones on 23rd April

g7mjv

The people that I would concerned about are those that are suffering with domestic abuse.. Some may have a hidden phone for an emergency so I hope they can get something sorted.

MattMattMattUK

g7mjv said:

The people that I would concerned about are those that are suffering with domestic abuse.. Some may have a hidden phone for an emergency so I hope they can get something sorted.

They can either turn the alerts of on the device menu, or turn off the device itself. 

sammyjammy

This system was used recently in Germany when the shooter attacked the JW centre, I don't have a problem with it as long as they haven't spent billions on it.  If there were a shooter randomly killing people on my street I would imagine I will know about it hours before they get a message to me.

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g7mjv said:

The people that I would concerned about are those that are suffering with domestic abuse.. Some may have a hidden phone for an emergency so I hope they can get something sorted.

The Government have held talks with abuse charities and have taken this into consideration before the (massively expensive, no doubt) publicity campaign begins.

I have no experience of domestic abuse, but I don't understand why a secret hidden phone isn't kept switched off, except when it is needed. Also I believe the alert only works on smartphones, you'd expect emergency phones to be basic handsets.

RumRat

For those whining about the possible cost...  GDS signs £5m support deal for new Emergency Alerts Service | PublicTechnology.net
Peanuts over 5 years compared with most Government projects.

flaneurs_lobster

RumRat said:

For those whining about the possible cost...  GDS signs £5m support deal for new Emergency Alerts Service | PublicTechnology.net
Peanuts over 5 years compared with most Government projects.

I'm not whining but from that article 

In addition to the £5m tech support deal with Fujitsu, the government has previously signed five-year contracts with each of the four network operators. A cumulative total of about £16m will be spent via these engagements.

So slightly bigger portion of peanuts. And no mention of the PR/media cost of telling everybody about the warning system which I recon will be a hefty packet of pistachios.

RumRat

flaneurs_lobster said:

RumRat said:

For those whining about the possible cost...  GDS signs £5m support deal for new Emergency Alerts Service | PublicTechnology.net
Peanuts over 5 years compared with most Government projects.

I'm not whining but from that article 

In addition to the £5m tech support deal with Fujitsu, the government has previously signed five-year contracts with each of the four network operators. A cumulative total of about £16m will be spent via these engagements.

So slightly bigger portion of peanuts. And no mention of the PR/media cost of telling everybody about the warning system which I recon will be a hefty packet of pistachios.

I was counting the full amount in my comment....Still peanuts....The media are doing a pretty good job of advertising it for free.

Grey_Critic

Agree with it or not it is happening but then it is no different fron some of the stuff that comes through our letter boxes on a regular basis. Information!

I personally see it as a positive - whilst I am not in any danger of flooding being up on a hill a severe storm could cause damage. As we are retired and over 70 we get regular emails from Northern Powergrid warning of possible outages due to bad weather.

Couple of miles away is Astra Zeneca and they have a siren warning system they test a couple of times a year I have yet to see or hear of a complaint when they test it.

OK putting it out on BBC1 but with so many channels plus streaming there needs to be a method of making people aware of possible problems and as most have mobile phones than I suppose it makes sense.

MouldyOldDough

There are bound to be a few people driving when the "you are about to die" alarm goes off - distracted by noise - crunching in to car in front of them............

I dont really understand the point of telling us that we are about to be hit by a nuke/comet/tidal wave/rogue gunman or whatever - we can't do anything other than panic

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MouldyOldDough said:

There are bound to be a few people driving when the "you are about to die" alarm goes off - distracted by noise - crunching in to car in front of them............

I dont really understand the point of telling us that we are about to be hit by a nuke/comet/tidal wave/rogue gunman or whatever - we can't do anything other than panic

They probably wouldn't tell us about anything important that might induce civil unrest like a nuclear attack or a comet strike.

They ought to tell us about local emergencies where it would be sensible to stay indoors or take precautions like

Factory fire at XXX keep your windows closed

Bull escaped from slaughter house, stay indoors (happened here when I was 12, I still remember it running past pursued by out of breath men in white coats)

Risk of severe flooding, take precautions and prepare for possible evacuation....