seek
7th February 2011, 20:43
Very interesting preparations are going on:
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2011/02/07/emergency-alert-system-to-get-presidential-test/
"The president is going to issue an emergency alert to be broadcast to the nation. But don’t panic — it’s just a test.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved the final step in the bureaucratic process that will allow such a test to be made.
The system being tested is the US Emergency Alert System, which took effect from 1997. It allows the President to address the nation during an emergency and means that on less than 10 minutes’ notice he can be speaking on all broadcast, cable and satellite services, plus satellite radio.
Although the technology behind the system is tested regularly, there’s never been a Presidential broadcast. When you consider that the system was active on 11 September 2001, you can try to imagine just how bad things would have to be for the system to actually be activated.
Still, were the worst to happen, it wouldn’t exactly be a great time to find a technical fault, which is why the FCC has authorized the test. It will not include a transmission of the emergency code that tells broadcasters to carry the signal, but will include an address from the President.
Although the date hasn’t been set for the test, it won’t be a secret. There’ll be “press statements, workshops, regional outreach, and television and radio public service announcements” in the run-up to the event. (Of course, you can’t help thinking that if anyone is planning to nuke the US, this would be exactly the day to do it.)
It’s possible that by the time of the test, the range of communications methods may be even wider. In 2009, a New York official proposed asking games console manufacturers to include a capability to broadcast messages to people playing online games. And last November Alcatel-Lucent announced the creation of a system allowing government agencies to send emergency messages via text message."
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2011/02/07/emergency-alert-system-to-get-presidential-test/
"The president is going to issue an emergency alert to be broadcast to the nation. But don’t panic — it’s just a test.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved the final step in the bureaucratic process that will allow such a test to be made.
The system being tested is the US Emergency Alert System, which took effect from 1997. It allows the President to address the nation during an emergency and means that on less than 10 minutes’ notice he can be speaking on all broadcast, cable and satellite services, plus satellite radio.
Although the technology behind the system is tested regularly, there’s never been a Presidential broadcast. When you consider that the system was active on 11 September 2001, you can try to imagine just how bad things would have to be for the system to actually be activated.
Still, were the worst to happen, it wouldn’t exactly be a great time to find a technical fault, which is why the FCC has authorized the test. It will not include a transmission of the emergency code that tells broadcasters to carry the signal, but will include an address from the President.
Although the date hasn’t been set for the test, it won’t be a secret. There’ll be “press statements, workshops, regional outreach, and television and radio public service announcements” in the run-up to the event. (Of course, you can’t help thinking that if anyone is planning to nuke the US, this would be exactly the day to do it.)
It’s possible that by the time of the test, the range of communications methods may be even wider. In 2009, a New York official proposed asking games console manufacturers to include a capability to broadcast messages to people playing online games. And last November Alcatel-Lucent announced the creation of a system allowing government agencies to send emergency messages via text message."