On April 09, 2008 the FCC approved a new nationwide emergency alter system. This system will send a text message to individuals, whose carrier participates in the system, altering them of an emergency. The system will inform user on 3 types of alters: “disasters that could jeopardize the health and safety of Americans, such as terrorist attacks; imminent or ongoing threats such tornadoes, hurricanes, or earthquakes; and child abduction or Amber alerts.”
Cellular carriers do not have to sign up for the alter system, it is totally by choice. But the system will go in affect once an agency has been assigned. The agency will be responsible for creating a message which will be sent to the carries central computer and then the carrier will be responsible for sending the emergency message to its users.
Once this plan goes in affect cellular have a choice if they want to receive the message. Users can choose to receive the message or not to receive the message. All cellular carriers have said that they are going to opt into the program.
This is a great effort by the FCC to keep Americans informed about emergency events going on around the US. The system can help catch criminals and word can travel a lot faster. Mostly everyone in the US has cell phones, which are a reach away, but not everyone watches the TV or listens to the radio. I know I will definitely sign up to receive important alters if it was offered.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/09/fcc.cell.phone.alert/index.html
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