FEMA and POTUS ability to text all U.S. cell phones

#1
Stew Cook

Stew Cook

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#1
In coordination with the FCC, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will test a new text alert system on September 20 which would allow the President to send messages directly to U.S. citizens during a national emergency.

Source

I don't necessarily think this is a bad idea, but have some reservations about the potential of this being politicized.

What do you guys think?
 
#4
#4
zeppelin128 said:
Absolutely, completely opposed to this in every way, regardless of who is President. Further chance of privacy invasion and spying by the NSA. FEMA and the government can kick rocks and stay out of my texts.
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^this
 
#9
#9
zeppelin128 said:
Absolutely, completely opposed to this in every way, regardless of who is President. Further chance of privacy invasion and spying by the NSA. FEMA and the government can kick rocks and stay out of my texts.
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On one hand, it doesn't give any new authority for spying that isn't already there. On the other hand I can see it be used as an argument for the next step - tracking people during an "emergency".

We already have systems (I believe opt in at this point) where by we can track students via cellphone in the case of an active shooter - rationale: to know where students are, how many are left in the building, etc.

I can see the government arguing this would be useful for first responders.
 
#10
#10
volinbham said:
On one hand, it doesn't give any new authority for spying that isn't already there. On the other hand I can see it be used as an argument for the next step - tracking people during an "emergency".

We already have systems (I believe opt in at this point) where by we can track students via cellphone in the case of an active shooter - rationale: to know where students are, how many are left in the building, etc.

I can see the government arguing this would be useful for first responders.
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Tracking movements, location, duration of time spent in a location, contacts, "red flag" words, the list goes on and on. The Feds are in our business enough as it is, this is further intrusion that is unnecessary and frankly dangerous to civil liberties.
Plus I don't want Trump or anybody else texting me at 4 in the morning.
 
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#12
#12
Hell, we already have to hear about his stupid stream of consciousness tweets all the time. No way I want him having a direct line to my personal cell. There had better be an opt out.
 
#15
#15
Not to mention that during a so-called "emergency", our friendly neighborhood FEMA could share our information with our friendly neighborhood militarized police force without our consent or knowledge.
Might as well have ankle bracelets for everyone so Big Brother can keep us "safe" and accounted for.
 
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#17
#17
zeppelin128 said:
Not to mention that during a so-called "emergency", our friendly neighborhood FEMA could share our information with our friendly neighborhood militarized police force without our consent or knowledge.
Might as well have ankle bracelets for everyone so Big Brother can keep us "safe" and accounted for.
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Fringey, but yeah.. I imagine that thinking will be more prevalent as people contemplate the possibilities.
 
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#18
#18
I completely support this for no other reason than for Trump to be able to text lefties on a whim and make them lose their damn minds.

However as soon as he leaves office this BS over reach needs to die a quick death.
 
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#19
#19
POTUS can call or text any of us anytime he wants.

W called a friend of mine to congratulate him on a achievement.
What was weird though, is all the phones associated with his account were disabled while the call took place.
 
#20
#20
AirVol said:
Too bad Obama didn’t think of this.
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The wireless emergency alert system was authorized in 2015 by Congress, NBC news reported on Friday, under a law that states the system is meant to “provide timely and effective warnings regarding natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters or threats to public safety.” The law also states that the system cannot be used for any other reason.
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interesting on the timeline.

I agree with others not sure why it needs to be a separate system. Would prefer to see an opt-out option, but not sure how this is an invasion of privacy? does the gov texting you give them some type of more information that they wouldn't have otherwise?
 
#22
#22
zeppelin128 said:
Tracking movements, location, duration of time spent in a location, contacts, "red flag" words, the list goes on and on. The Feds are in our business enough as it is, this is further intrusion that is unnecessary and frankly dangerous to civil liberties.
Plus I don't want Trump or anybody else texting me at 4 in the morning.
Click to expand...

I wasn't endorsing it. I was just suggesting that what was announced doesn't increase spying ability - that's already there. However, they could push to allow tracking as a next step in this program and that would much more serious.
 
#23
#23
They already test the EMS here on a monthly basis. You don’t get a text, it’s similar to an Amber alert.
 
#24
#24
zeppelin128 said:
Absolutely, completely opposed to this in every way, regardless of who is President. Further chance of privacy invasion and spying by the NSA. FEMA and the government can kick rocks and stay out of my texts.
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If I can turn off the notifications as I have done with Amber Alerts, I don't care.
 
#25
#25
volinbham said:
I wasn't endorsing it. I was just suggesting that what was announced doesn't increase spying ability - that's already there. However, they could push to allow tracking as a next step in this program and that would much more serious.
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Got ya. Yeah this is one of my many, many concerns with these systems. It is abuse of civil liberties just waiting to happen eventually.
 
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