The government texts me
And I'm only a little paranoid
Yesterday, I logged on to my Verizon Wireless account, directed myself to privacy settings, and instructed the company not to share my personal information with other companies. This is a power reserved only for new customers (Update: anyone can do this -- apologies to Verizon), and I felt satisfied that I had taken a small step to regain whatever ineffable sense of personal dignity the age of Big Data has taken away.
And then came the alerts: They were not accompanied by screeching, but they popped up on my iPhone like a priority message. One read: "EMERGENCY ALERT: Flash Flood Warning this area till 6:30 PDT Avoid Flood Areas Check local media — NWS. " This being Los Angeles, these flash floods didn't amount to much. But I digress.
At first I wondered if I had signed up for some National Weather Service notification systems. But then I remembered writing about something like this before.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
FEMA, pursuant to a Congressional mandate, was working with the FCC and telecoms to design a Commercial Mobile Alert System, one that would use priority routing to deliver emergency messages directly to cell phones based on their proximity to cell towers in the region of the emergency. Verizon was one of the earliest adopters of the system. Customers can turn the alerts off (Go to notifications and scroll down in your settings app), but they don't allow you to opt in. You'll get the messages direct from the federal government unless you decide you don't want them.
As a privacy guy, this makes me nervous. As a national preparedness guy, a continuity of government geek, I'm rather pleased. The CMAS is basically a software platform used by carriers; it takes alerts from FEMA's Wireless Emergency Alert system and commanders broadcast frequencies to send them directly to mobile devices. For those who can't see or hear well, the alerts can be voiced as well. The National Weather Service went live with their warnings in the summer, the first major agency to do so.
As a privacy guy, this makes me nervous. As a national preparedness guy, a continuity of government geek, I'm rather pleased.
Notably, CMAS allows for three types of warnings. One: Amber Alerts, for missing kids. Two: So-called "imminent" threats to person and property, like a natural disaster or a terrorist attack. And three: Presidential emergency messages. Yes, the president of the United States can now text you directly, and hopefully he'd do so only in a time of extreme national crisis, like when he's been moved to a secure location or can't appear on televsion. (FEMA has an entirely separate system for transmitting broadcast messages from the president; they tested it this year for the first time, more than 50 years after it was first proposed.) In every presidential motorcade, a camera operator from the White House Communications Agency is ready for flash broadcasts, which would be transmitted wirelessly through the WHCA van in the motorcade up to a satellite and down to FEMA. Everything is hardened (in theory) from the electromagnetic pulses that would be generated after a nuclear blast.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Cell carriers know where you are based on your location, and there are numerous mechanisms for law enforcement agencies to tap into that data in real time, provided they have a warrant (or in extreme circumstances, an obvious and pressing need). But this layer of alerting, as helpful as it might be, raises questions: How long is the data kept? Is there any difference between normal cell phone tower pings and those that let the phone companies know that your phone is ready to receive alerts? How does CMAS square with the federal laws regarding electronic communication intercepts by law enforcement?
According to FEMA, the technology used to transmit the alerts does not allow for two-way communication; in other words, the alerting station will send a signal to cell towers in a specific region, and the towers will broadcast the message on a specific frequency; phones that are tuned to that frequency will then process the alerts. At no time (according to the government) will your phone ping back an acknowledgment of the message, and unlike regular text messages, the tower will not record (because it can't) whether every phone in its vicinity received it.
By 2014, every cell phone sold in the US has to be capable of receiving CMAS messages. So what do you think? Is this something Americans should be concerned about? Or should they welcome it as an innovation that could save lives? Or both?
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
Duchess of Gloucester: the hard-working royal you've never heard of
Under The Radar Outer royal 'never expected' to do duties but has stepped up to the plate
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Are 'judge shopping' rules a blow to Republicans?
Today's Big Question How the abortion pill case got to the Supreme Court
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Climate change is driving Indian women to choose sterilization
under the radar Faced with losing their jobs, they are making a life-altering decision
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published