Emergency Alert System: Check your email or die?

So there you are, content in your little internet world, radio off, tv off, and you haven't checked your email in 20 minutes. But something smells weird.

Unknown to you, there has been a chemical attack in your city, and disabled most if not all human beings that could immediately do anything about it. Shortly after you start smelling things, you begin to cough violently and can't breathe anymore. You pass out. And now you are reading this from the other side. Yep, you are dead.

So what went wrong? Christ, you were on the internet, and surely someone would have let you know. They did. It was in your email. And many lives were saved as well because people were either watching tv, listening to the radio, or had their cellphone turned on and close by- and just happened to pay attention.

But, but what about instant alerts? Why didn't my ISP tell me? I mean crap, you would have gladly done without internet for a minute if your ISP would have just limited your service to one page with A BIG FLASHING WARNING with relevant data on what to do, and what direction to head immediately to stay out of the cloud. Sorry, no such system was in place in your area.

And to compound the problem, you have other issues such as popup blockers, the fact that Windows comes by default with the messenger service off, and ever more sophisticated Internet security software which could delay or even suppress completely any attempted contact by an alert system to your computer.

And I'll be the first to admit to that vulnerability. I run my computer on about 12 services total, or less. It's a performance/security thing. And something I am seriously reconsidering after reading my own article.

A review of the latest CRS Report For Congress reveals that much is being done to improve reaction time and interoffice cooperation and standardization with the Emergency Alert System.

The problem is that it appears that little has been done specifically for a growing segment of the population that is becoming increasingly disconnected from the mainstream media: hardcore internet users.

The document deals mostly with TV, radio, cellphone and "cost possible" technologies. Only a couple of references are made to the internet at all, and those deal with email alert systems. One reference was made to "other internet" systems, but exactly what those are- and what protocols they use- is not clear. And if it just so happens you take security seriously and have shut down a bunch of services on your system in addition to running Internet Security Suites- then you may be at serious risk.

As it turns out, studies have been done on this:

Internet emergency alert system



So my question is to what extent have the results of this study been implemented in the system? If the original document is any indication- not a whole lot.

And so I open this up to discussion as a collaborative effort. I hope some of the members here can shed some light on this subject and provide a bit of comfort.

[edit on 19-2-2008 by TrueAmerican]

Heh, talk about synchronicity! No sooner than I posted this look at what comes up:

Man In Custody After Gun Pulled At Santa Fe Community College

Students, Faculty Notified By E-Mail



By the time anyone read that they could have been dead. So again I ask, check your email or die?

why not roll-our own?

ill throw a server in the UK for use if anyone else is interested?

just needs some trusted people, a little structure and some code thrown at it.

Hmm, well it could come down to doing something like that, but I think you need to look at the issues presented. The protocols are a problem. Not everyone runs the same services on their machines. And not everyone checks their email all the time. For now it appears we are stuck with at least some exposure to MSM if we want to be alerted FAST. I am waiting for all the technical wizmos around here to come in here and pulverize this thread into mincemeat. Sure would be nice.

Recently a situation came up where an ATS member noticed very uncommon, heavy activity at an Air Force Base. So all he could do was post it in a couple of recent threads, hoping someone would take notice. He was ignored and even ridiculed.

So I thought of proposing a special ATS alert system. My thoughts on this as a general outline:

1) It needs to be accessible to only logged in members, mods, and staff, and run on a good faith basis- that is, if you ever use that system to perpetuate a hoax, immediate ban.

2) The alert itself could be a warning box that turns bright red, becomes clickable, and takes you to any pertinent information. It might work well to have that immediately to the left of where it says "flagged:" or any other very visible area of every single page in this place.

3) It has to work very fast- and this is critical- because people's lives may be at stake. So any attempts to have the alert pre-screened by mods or staff will just waste time- no good.

4) The submission form for this alert box would need to be very concise, clear, and fast.

Take a popular thread for instance High Altitude Explosion this AM.

At the time that happened, it could have been a nuclear bomb or weapon of some kind that went off for all he new. That was worthy of an alert, imo. AT THE TIME. Just cause we got lucky later and see that it wasn't, doesn't change the fact that it could have been. Even a lurking ATSer could have seen the alert and taken precautions.

What if instead that had proceeded something like:

A big explosion happened, and I'm hurt... or I smelled something wierd, and now I can barely breathe. That took all of a few seconds to type. But those few words would have alerted others in the area, and may have saved lives in that case.

I think an ATS high warning alert system should be explored.

Hmm, so no one likes the idea of an ATS alert system? No one cares that the only way you may be alerted could be through your email after it's too late?

I really enjoy that idea, but the problem, like you said, is how to get it to everyone. The idea of a box is good, but I always just zoom right past it. what we should have is a messenger, so:

A. we can talk to our friends when they are on,

B. get updates on when our threads get updated,

C. have a bot on there that we can submit info to, and anyone registered in that general location will get a message.

Myspace has a messenger program kinda like this, but it informs you when there are updates on your profile. It would take some geek-ified people (which we should have plenty of) to do it, but hey...it could happen!

Not sure people would just zoom past that if they knew it was there, and what is was for. On the contrary, it'd be the first thing I'd check at ATS. Emergency alerts.

One could have gone out over the recent Ricin incident, and the recent Florida power outage, for example. But as usual, my concerns fall on mostly deaf ears. But hey, at least two people are now more aware to not depend entirely on their computers for emergency alerts, for now. So to me it was worth it. Thanks for the reply.

quite true

and ya see, I didnt even know about the whole ricin thing, so good thing it didnt effect me!

So are you down with an ATS alert system? I'm surprised more people aren't commenting on this. I guess it's a bad idea?

thats the best thing ive heard of ever good post

I think it would be a good idea. It would have to be linked to an outside source and then through our zip codes. Now mind you this would have to be world wide alerts systems. Kinda makes me think that it is a bit before it's time. I guess we wil have to settle for breaking news for now...

Who's gets to know the news first And will they have time to alert everyone else? What if they get struck first? Just seems to me that we all need to be on our toes. Whoever gets the news first needs to be able to mass email the ATS, BTS & PTS family right away, so we all need access to this alert system.

lol, no no, re read my idea post about this again. I am talking a button (extremely visible when lit, on every page in this place), that is fed from special, extremely urgent, no hoax-or-you-are-banned member submissions, on a form available by one click, right under the button. No email involved. It's kind of like "check ATS or die." heh, kinda funny, but really not.

I contend that little feature will increase traffic. Betcha.

Yea I am! I for one, think its not too far off....they have a website that has a world map, and it lists pirates, shootings, bomb and powder threats....crap like that....of course I can't think of it right now, but its the same sort of thing, only different!

of course right after I post I remember what the website is....

Global Incident Map

The logistics involved is huge. it needs to be done but who ever takes up this task will loose money in less they do it open source. open source projects tend to stall for years sometimes forever. The attention span of your average internet user is very short that makes this task harder. it would have to be something that could grab attention but not resemble an advertisement. as you pointed out not everybody checks there email. Its almost impossible for a ISP to intercept and redirect to a warning page.

As I see it the best idea would be a Widget or tool bar. Some type of third party software that would run all the time. As I see it thats the only alternative. Even that has problems. Somebody has to send out the alerts. bandwidth cost money. would you make it on a local basis or national. A thing like this needs a dedicated staff, not part time coders. I don't know anybody who will put that kind of time with out compensation.

These are my first thoughts But I will be doing more research.

Aren't there a variety of computer widgets available that would alert the user to any extraordinary going-on's? Widgets are small, specialized computer applications that usually run right on the desktop.

Actually, only SO would really know what's involved, and how possible it would be to pull it off. Once you clicked on the alert and read the info, the button could become unlit, or light back up if there was an update... Also allow the option to disable any alert for members logged in. I was thinking national USA, but now that you mention it, we would really need to include everyone else too.

"It's a big idea. A New World Alerter."

HAHA! nice! I like that name! lol

I really think you're on to something,it just needs fine tuning.
This "red alert box" would have to be accessible for any website and blog.
I"m not a techy so excuse my choice of terms.
It would need to be hooked up to police/military/weather/news etc.
The alert would be given by one of these agencies thereby causing the box to light up, or have a screen with a notice and link.
I don't know the difficulties in making something like this or having it connected to so many verifiable agencies.
The site would simply host the "red box" via a code provided by the appropriate sources.
My input isn't definitive,I just wanted to add my two coppers.
How would this be funded? Perhaps a 50 cent fee added to every internet bill just like the 911 fee added to phones?

I'm surprised more people haven't jumped on this.
Star and a Flag!Brilliant idea.