Manditory Presidential Alerts?

Bob Maxey · Jan 15, 2013

I activated a friend's phone the other day, and as I was strolling through the various menus and options, I found an entry for Alert Messages. There were Amber Alerts, Severe Alerts, Emergency Alerts and the like.

You could opt out of every alert except something VM calls "Presidential Alerts."

Not sure why this struck me as rather odd, but I am wondering.

Have any of you encountered this type of mandatory alert before? Could it be national emergency alert of some kind or . . . (Conspiracy theorists, go crazy)

The phone is a cheap 19.99 Virgin Mobile Samsung Stupid Phone.

9to5cynic · Jan 15, 2013

Weird, I haven't heard anything about that... I just checked my VZW samsung phone and I didn't notice anything about Presidential Alerts, but I could have easily over looked it.

This is interesting though... it does seem to have an appeal to the inner conspiracy theorist in me...

Good find.

KENNECTED · Jan 16, 2013

Bob Maxey said:
I activated a friend's phone the other day, and as I was strolling through the various menus and options, I found an entry for Alert Messages. There were Amber Alerts, Severe Alerts, Emergency Alerts and the like.

You could opt out of every alert except something VM calls "Presidential Alerts."

Not sure why this struck me as rather odd, but I am wondering.

Have any of you encountered this type of mandatory alert before? Could it be national emergency alert of some kind or . . . (Conspiracy theorists, go crazy)

The phone is a cheap 19.99 Virgin Mobile Samsung Stupid Phone.

Was just discussing this in another thread SMS Alert Types?!?

A.Nonymous · Jan 16, 2013

It's on my Razr M. Apparently it is mandatory by law and required on newish smart phones.

zuben el genub · Jan 16, 2013

Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) | FCC.gov

It looks like XDA might just have a hack. Think I saw an entry in a search for the mandated messages.
Disable Severe Weather and Presidential Alerts on Verizon Galaxy S III – xda-developers

Someone must have info for a rooted phone.

I've opted out of weather and amber. And I'll turn the phone OFF before I even look at a presidential alert.

If it's a national emergency, those alerts aren't too bad. I'm just afraid the local congresscritters will find a way for them to do the same. One of our locals is pissed about "cell only, and anonymous names" They can't pester us very easily unless they come to the door.

Liamo_210 · Jan 16, 2013

This is kind of weird. Its bringing out the conspiracy theorist in me.

Gmash · Jan 16, 2013

Ha! I never even saw that menu at all before! I guess we all have Obama phones lol. But what's an "extreme alert"? I can't wait to get one of those!
"hey, guys, I'm getting an EXTREME ALERT!!!, time for Mountain Dew!!!

A.Nonymous · Jan 16, 2013

zuben el genub said:
Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) | FCC.gov

It looks like XDA might just have a hack. Think I saw an entry in a search for the mandated messages.
Disable Severe Weather and Presidential Alerts on Verizon Galaxy S III – xda-developers

Someone must have info for a rooted phone.

I've opted out of weather and amber. And I'll turn the phone OFF before I even look at a presidential alert.

If it's a national emergency, those alerts aren't too bad. I'm just afraid the local congresscritters will find a way for them to do the same. One of our locals is pissed about "cell only, and anonymous names" They can't pester us very easily unless they come to the door.

You can disable everything except the mandatory Presidential alerts. You can probably disable those w/the hack mentioned above. I'm not sure why people are so freaked out about this. Granted I have only had the phone for 2-3 weeks now, but I haven't got a single alert. I can't imagine that they're hugely annoying if I haven't got any yet.

Edit: I'm trying to find someone online who's actually received a presidential alert to see what it said and so far have come up empty.

Clementine_3 · Jan 16, 2013

I don't recall exactly when they appeared on my phone, last update to my Droid 3 I believe (have a D4 now). So, it's been a while and I've gotten no alerts at all. I did disable the amber alert. My son has gotten a few tornado alerts, he's in FL.

A.Nonymous · Jan 16, 2013

All I've been able to find is that the Presidential Alerts on the phone are tied to the Emergency Activation System (formerly Emergency Broadcast System) which has, in it's entire history, never, ever been activated.

Apparently it is reserved for extremely dire situations that affect the entire country - bombs falling, martians invading type stuff. I don't think there's any legit reason to disable it personally as it'll likely never be activated and if it does it's probably information that you really do need.

Speed Daemon · Jan 16, 2013

Earlier today my cellphone made a noise so loud that I still can't figure out how such a tiny phone can do it. It was an EAS test. I like the idea.

What I don't like are the thrice daily "weekly" EAS tests that ruin many of my DVRed TV programs. That's getting way out of hand.

Bob Maxey · Jan 16, 2013

A.Nonymous said:
Edit: I'm trying to find someone online who's actually received a presidential alert to see what it said and so far have come up empty.

I am not sure I am freaked out, just wondering. I never saw this before.

I did get an alert advising me where I must go to turn in my guns by 6:45 AM MST.

JK

AntimonyER · Jan 16, 2013

I have never received one of these messages personally. And kind of hope I never do!

A.Nonymous · Jan 16, 2013

AntimonyER said:
I have never received one of these messages personally. And kind of hope I never do!

I dunno. Personally I wouldn't mind the Martians landing on the lawn of the White House and taking over. Might be a better administration.

jwp1223 · Jan 17, 2013

I'll just disable the messaging system. I use Go SMS exclusively anyways. That way I don't have to hear about the Presidential Alerts.

zuben el genub · Jan 17, 2013

Like I said - if a presidential alert stays for a national emergency, that's not bad.

It's what can be construed as a national emergency and congress giving itself the power to abuse it. That could be introduced in a fairly important bill, and vetoing just the proposal for congresscritters to use the alerts, would also veto the bill.

If that happened, you could be subject to the same damn political ads you didn't like on TV. A way to campaign for free!

This whole national alert stuff started during the cold war. They tested sirens every week (now most used for weather), TV and radio used to go blank to test the service. You couldn't really abuse that. We had local air raid sirens before that. Every town had one.

AntimonyER · Jan 17, 2013

Let's stay focused on the alert, and not on the politics behind them.

Thanks

Manditory Presidential Alerts?

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