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United States IT

Trump Will Get Power To Send Unblockable Mass Text Messages To All Americans (nymag.com) 555

President-elect Donald Trump will have access to a system which can send unblockable texts to every phone in the United States once he becomes the president. From a report on NYMag: These 90-character messages, known as Wireless Emergency Alerts (or WEAs), are part of a program put in place after Congress passed the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act, in 2006. WEAs allow for targeted messages to be sent to every cell phone getting a signal from certain geographically relevant cell towers (or, in a national emergency, all of them). While it'd be a true nightmare to get screeching alerts from your phone that "Loser Senate Democrats still won't confirm great man Peter Thiel to Supreme Court. Sad!", there are some checks and balances on this. While President-elect Trump hasn't shown much impulse control when it comes to his favorite mass-messaging service, Twitter, the process for issuing a WEA isn't as simple as typing out a 90-character alert from a presidential smartphone and hitting "Send." All WEAs must be issued through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert Warning System, meaning that an emergency alert from the president still has at least one layer to pass through before being issued. While FEMA is under control of the executive branch (the head of FEMA is selected by the president, and reports to the Department of Homeland Security), the agency would have a vested interest in not seeing their alert system bent toward, uh, non-emergency ends.
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Trump Will Get Power To Send Unblockable Mass Text Messages To All Americans

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  • by NotInHere ( 3654617 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @01:58PM (#53394863)

    Journalists, be careful what you publish. Don't give donald ideas!

    • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:25PM (#53395201)

      I have been woken at 2am by idiotic Amber Alerts about incidents hundreds of miles from my home. If there was some way to block these messages, I would do so. I don't think Donald is going to be any worse than the bozos already abusing this system. The kidnapping of a blonde white girl by her non-custodial parent, is not a "national emergency".

      • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:38PM (#53395361)

        I have been woken at 2am by idiotic Amber Alerts about incidents hundreds of miles from my home. If there was some way to block these messages, I would do so.

        Blocking Amber Alerts on iOS is simple. Go to Settings -> Notifications, scroll down to the bottom of that page, unselect "AMBER Alerts" (and/or "Emergency Alerts"). I assume it's equally easy on Android.

        But back to the subject at hand... I held my nose and voted for Hillary, but I'm getting really tired of these "Trump may do this" and "Trump might do that" propaganda pieces that are spewing forth across the web. I'm nervous about his presidency; but the election is over - let's see what he actually does, and then react if necessary.

        I'm old enough to remember similar hysteria from back when Reagan was elected. Early on, his administration tried to do some pretty darn stupid things, like attempting to let ketchup count as a vegetable in school lunches. I remember Bill Clinton's early day missteps as well ("Sorry, we don't talk to the military"). But between the politics of Washington DC and the court of public opinion, the initial lunatic fringe crap gets self-corrected pretty darn quickly. The Republic will survive.

        • by Nunya666 ( 4446709 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:51PM (#53395493)

          I have been woken at 2am by idiotic Amber Alerts about incidents hundreds of miles from my home. If there was some way to block these messages, I would do so.

          Blocking Amber Alerts on iOS is simple. Go to Settings -> Notifications, scroll down to the bottom of that page, unselect "AMBER Alerts" (and/or "Emergency Alerts"). I assume it's equally easy on Android.

          I don't get enough Amber alerts to be annoyed by them, but your post made me curious about turning them off on my Android (Galaxy S5). A quick search on DDG revealed that, on Samsung Galaxy phones, it's a setting in the Messaging app. Interestingly, there is also an option for Presidential Alerts that is checked/selected/enabled and it cannot be unchecked.

      • You can turn off Amber Alerts on Android.

        How you do it depends on what version of Android. Under Marshmallow, you open the messaging app, then open "Settings", "More" (under "ADVANCED SETTINGS"), then you will see "Emergency alerts". Under that option you can turn off Amber Alerts.

  • What. The. Fuck. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @01:59PM (#53394865)
    What the fuck is this? I don't like Trump because I have a brain cell, but this is bullshit garbage. msmash/manish needs to go.
    • by Dogtanian ( 588974 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @03:01PM (#53395589) Homepage

      What the fuck is this? I don't like Trump because I have a brain cell, but this is bullshit garbage. msmash/manish needs to go.

      I don't like Trump either- mainly because he's an openly self-serving sociopath, a narcissist to almost certainly pathological degree, a shameless bully with no target too cheap or low if it dares to threaten his dangerously thin skin, and an all-round, outright piece of shit.

      And I agree with you- this story (or rather, the Trump slant on it) is clickbait garbage of the type that's going to dilute and cheapen any legitimate criticism of him because people switch off after getting overwhelmed by opportunistic Trump-slanting of crap like this at the slightest excuse.

      • by guises ( 2423402 )

        going to dilute and cheapen any legitimate criticism of him because people switch off

        I don't think this is accurate. I had that experience with all of the accusations surrounding Hillary, wild stuff like how she stole a bunch of furniture from the state department, or how she murdered the cat of one of her former aids, and I did as you said and just stopped paying attention. That doesn't seem to be how the majority of people handled it though. It seems as though the nonstop accusations did have a very significant impact on how people perceived her, though none of those things ever even got

    • by PRMan ( 959735 )
      This already exists. Look on your cellphone under Settings > Alerts. It's already been there for years.
  • by AuMatar ( 183847 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:00PM (#53394867)

    There's plenty Trump is actually doing that will have drastic consequences over the next few decades to be concerned about. Lets not start worrying about a power he hasn't abused yet, has made no comments that show he will abuse it, and if abused would be more an annoyance than a crisis. Priorities people.

  • Ha ha ha (Score:5, Funny)

    by Camel Pilot ( 78781 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:00PM (#53394869) Homepage Journal

    First FEMA tweet

    Rosie O'donnell is a yuge bitch!!!!

  • Yes? So? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:00PM (#53394871)

    And Obama had this power too. Don't remember quite how far back this goes, but pretty sure Bush was able to do it too.
    And EVERY president going back to the start of the Emergency Broadcast System, since 1963, has had the ability to commandeer all airwaves as well. It was accidentally set off once, in 1971.

    Meh.

    Next story.

    • Re:Yes? So? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:15PM (#53395069) Journal
      Correct. This is a totally sensationalist story.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by DickBreath ( 207180 )
      Yeah, yeah, right. Presidents have been able to do this for a long time. No big deal.

      Why this is news is because in the past, presidents were sane.

      (Idea: incoming administration should modernize nuclear launch system for the 21st century so it is possible to give launch orders via Twitter.)
    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

      But you don't understand. This is Trump we're talking about.

      Actually that's a good point. We're talking about Trump. We're defending him. We're brushing this off as a non issue. And yet the real news of the past few days is what what kind of psychopathic fuckwits he's appointing to positions of power potentially setting America back to the early 1900s.

    • Re:Yes? So? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rholtzjr ( 928771 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:30PM (#53395263) Journal

      Agreed, when I first read the article I asked myself "And?". Why is this even showing up on a tech forum?

      Time to move on to technical discussions and move away from the politics that have been a major distraction this past year.

  • So now I will have to turn my phone off or I'll get texts at 3am every night....
    • Or... you know.... keep your phone in the other room.

  • by Dorianny ( 1847922 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:02PM (#53394895) Journal
    Trump will soon have the power and authority to launch a Preemptive Nuclear Strike and you are worried about the misuse of the WEA's Text Messages?!
    • by mark-t ( 151149 )
      Well, what the fuck else is anyone supposed to do about it? Serious question. He's elected now, and after the EC vote, it's a done deal. There's no backsies on US presidency elections.... so again... what else is anyone supposed to do?
  • by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:02PM (#53394899)
    Instead of reading a summary of Mr. Trump's 3AM tweets in The Wall Street Journal each morning, I'll be force to read each one as they come in real time.
  • by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:03PM (#53394903) Homepage

    Why is this news? Obama has the power now. I trust Obama, as a professional Chicago-machine politician, even less than Trump.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mlw4428 ( 1029576 )
      Obama doesn't tend to go onto Twitter at 3AM and start whining and getting into arguments. If you don't see how Obama acts like an adult and Trump a petulant teenager, you're beyond all hope.
      • God, you sound just like my jerk-DAD. I should be able to listen to my music at whatever volume I want, jeez.
        • God, you sound just like my jerk-DAD. I should be able to listen to my music at whatever volume I want, jeez.

          Fine, son. But if you want to do that at 3 am, then kindly move out and get your own place.

          Your mom and I want to sleep now.

    • Why is this news?

      Because Trump is announcing his cabinet so the distract-o-matic needs to work overtime.

    • by Rob Y. ( 110975 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:32PM (#53395285)

      Well, I assume you don't trust Trump to tell the truth - since it must be obvious even to you that he lies more or less constantly. So you trust him to be 'different', I suppose - with some kind of faith that 'different' in his case will turn out to be better. All very optimistic of you.

      But have you considered that, for example, there was nothing stopping Trump from developing (or adopting) a coherent plan for, say, 'repealing and replacing Obamacare' sometime in the past 6 years. To me, the fact that he hasn't done so, and campaigned (and won) on a promise of 'something better', implies that he didn't have something better to offer - or he'd have offered it. There's no need to play political chess in pursuit of a popular policy, so let's assume his eventual 'something better' won't be better for enough voters for him to have presented it to them...

      Yes, Obama is a politician - and a bit of a disappointment at that. 'Chicago-machine', I guess, carries a lot of specific negative meanings to you, but I'll assume it's is essentially code for 'Democrat' or 'urban' or something. But as far as 'trust' is concerned, Obama governed pretty much like he said he would - way to the right of where people (and the Nobel committee) 'hoped' he would, based, I guess, on their projections of what the first black President would do. But he was pretty trustworthy in the sense that he didn't misrepresent his policies much. Trump, on the other hand is claiming he's going to restore middle-class factory jobs by, what? Cutting taxes, mainly. Well, if you haven't figured out that 'tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves and help the middle class' is a lie by now, you're just not paying attention - or you've chosen sides and don't care about the truth.

      Well, we're all about to see your assumptions and your faith tested. And I predict a continued rise in income inequality, with some various uglinesses on the side. If that happens, what will your reaction be?

      • by T.E.D. ( 34228 )

        . 'Chicago-machine', I guess, carries a lot of specific negative meanings to you, but I'll assume it's is essentially code for 'Democrat' or 'urban' or something.

        It must be. If you know anything about Chicago politics, you'd know that the only contested race Obama ever ran in Chicago [wikipedia.org] he lost to a longtime local politician due largely to being portrayed as an outsider. Lost it badly. Didn't even get 30%. His Senate race after that, his main claim to fame during the primary was an endorsement from a politician from rural southern Illinois (whose father happened to be beloved bowtied former Senator Paul Simon), and the general he largely won by default.

        He's no more a

      • by Rakarra ( 112805 )

        But have you considered that, for example, there was nothing stopping Trump from developing (or adopting) a coherent plan for, say, 'repealing and replacing Obamacare' sometime in the past 6 years. To me, the fact that he hasn't done so, and campaigned (and won) on a promise of 'something better', implies that he didn't have something better to offer - or he'd have offered it.

        I'm not so sure about that anymore. I believe our election system rewards vague generalities and punishes specifics. People with a record to examine are now at a disadvantage compared to people who don't. If you make public a plan, you are only providing campaign fodder for the people disadvantaged by that plan. You're certainly not going to win among the people who would also have supported you with more vague promises.

        Trump succeeded with basically "I'm going to do it all, and it's going to be great. It'l

      • by Xest ( 935314 )

        "Well, we're all about to see your assumptions and your faith tested. And I predict a continued rise in income inequality, with some various uglinesses on the side. If that happens, what will your reaction be?"

        To double down and vote for him again in 2020, because next time it will be different!

  • by jmichaelg ( 148257 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:03PM (#53394909) Journal

    I hate pointless fear mongering articles. Best example of fake news there is right here on slashdot.

    Trump isn't likely to abuse the alert system but leave it to slashdot to make an issue of it.

      Trump won. Get over it already.

    • by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:19PM (#53395113) Homepage Journal

      I hate pointless fear mongering articles. Best example of fake news there is right here on slashdot.

      Trump isn't likely to abuse the alert system but leave it to slashdot to make an issue of it.

        Trump won. Get over it already.

      I'm so weary of all this one-sided bickering and sniping over Trump that I've decided that Democrats should be considered enemy combatants.

      To be more clear, I now consider Democrats to be the equivalent of the "other side" in a war - they will still oppose every and any thing your side does, they can lose a battle and still wage war, incessant and total non-compliance, they will fight to the last man, and any victory - even pyrrhic - is still a victory. Any means are justified in the pursuit of their ends.

      All the things an unruly child does, but forever.

      In my mind the Democrats are *permanently* a party of dishonour, disgrace, and corruption. A group that simply gets no "benefit of the doubt" or "concessions of fairness" or anything like that. They are children, now and forever. We should treat them as such.

      I was thinking through the recent news (last night) that Trump got Carrier to keep 1000 jobs in the US, and how I couldn't see a way to frame that in a bad light. Lo and behold! Recent comments on Slashdot manage to paint this as a bad thing. They even pulled out the Hitler comparison for good measure.

      The Democrats are defeated. Leaderless and feckless, the only thing they can do is complain.

      No plan, no leadership, and rife with corruption.

      It's hard to see why anyone would be a part of that crowd.

      • I've decided that Democrats should be considered enemy combatants.

        And what exactly are you gonna do about that, you fuckwit?

        If you come, you better come heavy. Because Democrats have been dealing with poncy little whigs like you since Andrew Jackson.

        • And what exactly are you gonna do about that, you fuckwit?

          Thank you for reinforcing his point so well.

          If you come, you better come heavy.

          The country did, including lots of Democrats thoroughly tired of the DNC's BS and the Dem power structure's utter contempt for the people it wants to rule. You know, in the voting booth. That's why the Democrats have lost the better part of a thousand legislative seats, governorships, both houses of congress, the executive branch, and shortly the prospect of a majority in the Supreme Court. Because they, as a party, talk and act just like you.

      • by Mab_Mass ( 903149 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:53PM (#53395517) Journal

        To be more clear, I now consider Democrats to be the equivalent of the "other side" in a war - they will still oppose every and any thing your side does, they can lose a battle and still wage war, incessant and total non-compliance, they will fight to the last man, and any victory - even pyrrhic - is still a victory. Any means are justified in the pursuit of their ends.

        So... in other words, the Democrats are now going to do what the Republicans have been doing for the past 8 years.

      • What rock have you been living under? Some Republicans have been bickering and sniping over the past 8 years just as much as some Democrats are doing now. In fact, some of those bickering and sniping Republicans were in the House and Senate, where they promised to block every single piece of legislation coming from the White House on general principle. Remember that?

        After this election, there's plenty of blame to go around. Don't be fooled into thinking it all falls on the shoulders of your "enemy". Republi

    • Best example of fake news there is right here on slashdot.

      I know this is an international site, but the meaning of "fake" is pretty much understood universally. So why do you not understand it?
      A distraction? Yes
      A sensationalistic piece of garbage? Yes.
      Fake? Well the only thing here that is fake is your post claiming that this article is.

      Trump isn't likely to abuse the alert system but leave it to slashdot to make an issue of it.

      Actually you'll find most people here don't seem to give a shit.

      Trump won. Get over it already

      Given the announcements this week, it will be at least 3 years plus however long it takes for America to undo the ensuing damage of his legacy before people will "get

    • by swb ( 14022 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:30PM (#53395261)

      Fear mongering is a gift to the fake news industry. Because it's speculation based on fact, it's technically not false. But it's also usually about three decimal places past the zombie apocalypse in probability.

      As long as a segment of Democratic base continues to indulge in extreme paranoia, the news industry across all strata will continue pumping out stories to indulge this paranoia.

      I predict next we'll hear that Mike Pence will be personally performing abortions on pregnant transgender people because the bible says it's ok.

    • We don't have nearly enough Trump news on slashdot now as it is. Why the discouraging tone?
    • Slashdot is going to join boingboing on the list of "websites I used to look at."

    • I didn't see this article as fear-mongering. Abuse of the WEA for political purposes could result in it being ignored in a real crisis. As much as I distrust Trump, I think he knows this.

      What makes this news is not that it's fear-mongering, but that it's ironic.

  • This counts as a pressing concern? That Trump has the power to send spam?

    Never mind that he has stoking the worst bigotry and racial violence in North America in recent history. Never mind that he now has access to nookoolar weapons. Never mind that he's going to gut environmental regulations and oversight over the entire energy sector.

    No! He can send us a text message! Everybody panic!

    Is there an emoji for eyeroll?

    • by mark-t ( 151149 )
      Simply put, the severity of the other things that you mentioned is so vast that it is simply beyond the capacity for most people to reasonably worry about them and still function in society. Text message spam, therefore, is more likely to be taken as a serious concern by people than environmental disaster or even nuclear war.
  • Emergency alerts can already be turned off on your phone. I don't need to be getting woken up at 3AM for flash flood warnings in a different watershed or missing children in a vehicle on a major interstate hours' drive away from my out-of-the-way little hometown, so I have them off already. If that means I don't get stupid fucking Trump tweets either, great.

    • Emergency alerts can already be turned off on your phone. I don't need to be getting woken up at 3AM for flash flood warnings in a different watershed or missing children in a vehicle on a major interstate hours' drive away from my out-of-the-way little hometown, so I have them off already. If that means I don't get stupid fucking Trump tweets either, great.

      Providers are not required to participate in (CMAS) but if they do they are not allowed to offer the option to disable Presidential alerts. So sorry, If President Trump wants to let you know "Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don't feel so stupid or insecure,it's not your fault", he can most certainly wake you up with a 2am CMAS

  • by MullerMn ( 526350 ) <andy@@@andrewarbon...co...uk> on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:06PM (#53394965) Homepage
    What the fuck is this? Seriously? What. The. Fuck. Taco must be turning in his grave/money pit at what the various owners of Slashdot have done to it since he sold it on.
  • How about... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by The-Ixian ( 168184 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:07PM (#53394979)

    As the old adage goes: "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it"

    Can we stop complaining about things that may possibly is some crazy parallel universe happen?

    I didn't vote for the guy but can we at least wait until he is in office and doing stuff before we jump off the deep end?

  • Suddenly worried (Score:5, Insightful)

    by roninmagus ( 721889 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @02:14PM (#53395055)
    All of a sudden, the left and the media are afraid of the powers that have been given to the president...
  • I seemed to recall reading on Slashdot a few years ago about how the Obama admin was putting this into place

  • ...in 5... 4... 3...
  • I can absolutely block them, some of us are not sheeple that refuse to learn how to master technology.

  • Trump is, if nothing else, extremely adept at self-promotion, and so he wouldn't use this unless he felt it would be hugely popular.

    Remember: Trump is a narcissist. Every one of his actions is motivated in convincing himself that he is powerful and loved.

  • I'm not sure if Trump's small hands will allow him to type more efficiently, making fewer mistakes, or will require him to use two hands because he likely got a ginormous screen phone and can't reach both sides of the keyboard.

  • What is this leftie blatant fearmongering bullshit? This mechanism is for emrgency alerts and was actually put in place by Obama, so yes any President can use it, including both Obama and Trump. Trump won, get over it and move on

  • Yellow journalism?
  • This one is obviously for the lark. Have a sense of humor.

  • by JWW ( 79176 )

    Ridiculous overreactions much??

  • So Bush and Obama had this 'scary' power as well....
  • WRONG!!!

  • by wardrich86 ( 4092007 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @03:07PM (#53395651)
    1. Any person acting as president would have access to the same thing, so why is this worth a story?
    2. Just because Trump has access to it doesn't mean he's going to abuse it.
    3. Obviously there are fucking checks and balances in place... so again, this story is a non-story
    4. Guess what - Trump also has access to 911! :O

    Why the fuck are people so pissy about Trump? They fucking voted him in! If everybody is so serious about Clinton 4 prez, where were they on voting night? I assume the Clinton circlejerk ran a bit late.
  • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @04:35PM (#53396529) Homepage Journal

    If anyone is interested, it is apparently quite simple to block presidential alerts on a rooted android phone [xda-developers.com]. I never looked it up before because why would I care... before

    My phone is rooted but I'm not blocking them... yet

  • by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Wednesday November 30, 2016 @07:02PM (#53397665)
    Either give me the ability to BLOCK the messages, or give me the ability to RESPOND to the messages and tell the sender what an asshole he is!

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