Submission + - Canada's "Amber Alert" fiasco
knorthern knight writes: Canada's "Alertready" system https://www.alertready.ca/#faq is stupid. You can *NOT* opt out of cellphone alerts. This is because Alertready (ab)uses the unblockable "Presidential Alert" level (intended for incoming missiles, etc) for *ALL* alerts. The story of the first live alert is at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... There were 3 "Presidential" alerts issued for the incident...
1) In English
2) In French
3) A blingual "alert", saying the kid had been found safe
The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) displayed appalling ignorance. They claimed that it was necessary to alert the entire province because people from eastern Ontario might have been visiting Thunder Bay. This is absolute ignorance. The Alertready website FAQ says that the alerts are specific to individual cell towers, and that all compatable cellphones served by the tower will receive the alert regardless of where the phone is registered to.
Right now the only ways to avoid these messages are
* force your cellphone down to 3G (Alertready only works on LTE)
* get a custom ROM, e.g. Lineage OS, for your cellphone, with "Presidential Alerts" disabled
1) In English
2) In French
3) A blingual "alert", saying the kid had been found safe
The OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) displayed appalling ignorance. They claimed that it was necessary to alert the entire province because people from eastern Ontario might have been visiting Thunder Bay. This is absolute ignorance. The Alertready website FAQ says that the alerts are specific to individual cell towers, and that all compatable cellphones served by the tower will receive the alert regardless of where the phone is registered to.
Right now the only ways to avoid these messages are
* force your cellphone down to 3G (Alertready only works on LTE)
* get a custom ROM, e.g. Lineage OS, for your cellphone, with "Presidential Alerts" disabled
