On the 23rd of April the government will issue a test Emergency Alert to every mobile phone in the country. Once received, your phone will become inoperable until you acknowledge receipt of the alert, at which point it will be unlocked.
Anyone else got concerns about this? The government website says it’s perfectly harmless etc, and says you can disable emergency alerts on your phone if you wish. Well I’ve done that four times now, and each time the alerts have been restored “by the operator” during the small hours.
And read the government website carefully. There’s a clear reassurance that none of your data will be involved at all, it’s completely anonymous. But look closely at the wording, and what it actually says is that personal data is not necessary in order for the system to operate. It doesn’t say they won’t use it, just that they shouldn’t need to.
Paranoia? Probably. But I’m not sure I trust the authorities on this.
Well, that’s the thing. I have two networks on my phone, EE and O2, and I don’t know which is doing it. The notification doesn’t say which operator altered it.
I don’t think they can currently access location or it’s history. I think it likely that they will, after this public spirited exercise. You’ve only got to read a few threads on here to see that trust levels of authority is pretty low, why would anyone just assume this was purely an innocent exercise designed for our protection when it’s been repeatedly demonstrated that these bodies really cannot be trusted?
I have never really understood the whole govt data privacy issues (at least not in the UK)
The same people who rail against the govt having your data (which they most likely already have) merrily pour everything about themselves into social media with out a second thought about the fact that a profit making organization is tracking everything you do / go / look at to make money
There’s not really a parallel between private companies using data to push sales, and data held by government departments imho. I’d probably think the alert system was a good idea, if I’d thought about it at all, if it weren’t for the raft of other stuff that’s currently being foisted on us well below the radar such as the digital currency, and NFT idea for benefits etc. They’re getting just as much mainstream media coverage as emergency alerts, ie somewhere around zero.
Just to play devil’s advocate for a moment, and assume that yes, the government already knows everything about you and no, that doesn’t matter because they have either your own best interests or the interests of the nation at heart. Then say that actually, the reason for the new system is that we’re far closer to a nuclear attack than the public is aware of, and that’s the motivation behind the emergency alerts being introduced, rather than floods and earthquakes. How would you feel about it then? Would you just accept that they knew best?
Why the fuck do they make your phone inoperable?
That is utter bollocks.
How many people are gonna have to go visit Gran & reset her phone.
We have an emergency alert system here it simply messages any phone active on any network not a database and if you are using roaming it is in your home language
They don’t, the only interaction I have seen is that if your phone is locked you have to acknowledge the alert.
No personal data is required because it works on the mast that your phone is currently connected to, the alert is sent to masts in the affected area and the masts then push the notification to connected phones.
Other country’s in the world have this system, we’re just catching up.
Probably - assuming there was an imminent nuclear attack, its one of those situations where if you give everyone the full details, it would probably wouldn’t help in the slightest. In fact it would probably make matters a lot worse through panic and social breakdown.
I think the best way to find out about a nuclear attack is when the tip of the missile is two inches away from the tip of your nose
