more on for californians AB 2231 Emergency alerts

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Boyes <dboyes () sinenomine net>
Date: March 31, 2006 4:00:19 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: RE: [IP] more on for californians AB 2231 Emergency alerts

> From: Jay Goodman Tamboli <jay () tamboli cx>
> What's happened in DC, and what I think is probably a better
> solution, is that the government has set up essentially a mailing
> list. You sign up for the types of events you want to hear about and
> the neighborhoods you're interested in, and you give your email
> address or SMS number. When something comes up, you get a message.

I think it's a different problem, though. What I think the California
bill does is require the cellular providers to be able to push
notifications to any IMEI that is registered with any carrier within a
certain geographic scope, regardless of opt-in/opt-out, for use in
emergency situations like bad weather, disasters.  Nextel/Clearnet and
other Canadian cell providers have had this for years for their
operations, allowing the RCMP to target severe storm warnings to
travelers in specific areas during winter.  It really works well, and
the access to the system is strictly limited to public safety issues.
The providers bear the cost/burden as a PR thing.

> I
> don't know what the cost is to the government, but it seems to me
> this kind of thing (widely publicized) accomplishes the same thing,
> and it has the advantage of letting people not opt-in if they're not
> interested.

I think the point is NOT to miss anyone in a specific area. It's like
air-raid klaxons -- everybody hears it. The voluntary bit makes it less
useful if you can't be sure that everyone is the message.




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