Comment Re:I don't understand the purpose (Score 1) 451
And a TV or radio alert that nobody watches anymore that doesn't technically even work that couldn't possibly tell every individual what course of action to take and even if it could it will never be technically prepared to do so is going to do what? Jack all shit that's what. Look, this is pure unadulterated theater. Also, I admit that it's useful for alerting regions (states and cities) that they need to evacuate or whatever for some purpose. But short of a foreign land invasion across the entire US simultaneously there is absolutely no reason for a national alert system given this sole lonely reason: it can't tell anybody what to do! That at the very least would need to be done on a state (more likely city) basis. Basically in order for this federal boondoggle to ever be at all remotely useful it would need to be ripped out wholesale and redesigned from the ground up. Bonus points if the technology you design it with is even still relevant (unlike this one) by the time its designed, implemented, tested and fully working. Which is to say this one is a complete and utter waste of time.
That being said, the only part of this that really makes me sad is that people don't realize this is Security Theater(tm). The part about it wasting money: that kinda money is a rounding error for the Feds. The part about it being a non-functional security system: ya, we don't really need it anyways, and even if we did it would never be useful.