Lt. Governor of California Wants Cell Phones To Give Alerts

Lt. Governor of California Wants Cell Phones To Give Alerts

www.fresnobee.com

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is talking to cellular telephone companies about establishing a system to alert cell phone users to emergencies on college campuses in California.

He said the technology exits to broadcast text and voice alerts to cell phones on and around a campus.

"This system would save lives should a Virginia Tech situation occur at one of our California campuses," he said in a statement issued Thursday.

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Now you're probably wondering why this would be posted on ATS.

Well, there's one part of this proposal that would allow for these alerts to be sent to select phones within the area of the crisis or event using GPS tracking.

Personally, if there's a fire or other natural disaster, I'm sure I'll see it and run in the other direction. If I can't run, then I'll enjoy what time I have left. If I can fight whatever it is, then I will attempt to do so if I feel there is a need to do so.

Secondly, this will only create mass hysteria or create situations that may be worse than the actual event itself. We all know when information first comes out, it's notoriously wrong or "blown out of proportion". What would have happened if this alert would have went to the phones of the 26,000 students at VT? It might have possibly started an incident that would have been much worse than what actually happened there.

Furthermore, humans are notorious for taking the "Shoot now, ask later" stance on things, so this would create problems as well, which goes with my previous statement of creating more problems.

And finally, knowing where people are can, and most likely would, be used for "other" reasons, and I'm sure there would be a clause hidden somewhere in the law that would allow them to do so without a warrant. I mean, "Joe Smith" might want to shoot up a school, so they'll have to know where he is at any given time.

www.fresnobee.com
(visit the link for the full news article)